CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Stamp Duty

Mark Prisk: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what study has been made of the impact of increases in stamp duty land tax on the commercial holdings of the Church of England; and if he will make a statement.

Stuart Bell: No such study has been made in respect of the Church Commissioners' commercial property investment portfolio. I understand that changes to this tax come into effect on 1 December 2003: whether or not these will have an impact upon the amount of rent tenants will offer for new leases remains to be seen. The Commissioners take independent professional advice regarding the rental values of their properties and these are reviewed regularly.

SCOTLAND

Common Agricultural Policy

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the implications for tenant farmers in Scotland of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Anne McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Mr. Liddell-Grainger) on 9 September 2003, Official Report, column 328W.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what statutory investigatory powers the Department has; which ones will be superseded by use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and what plans he has for removing these legacy powers.

Anne McGuire: The Scotland Office has no statutory investigatory powers.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Countryside and Rights of Way Act

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she will publish guidance to those wishing to dedicate their land as access land under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000;
	(2)  what additional funding is to be made available to the Forestry Commission to enable them to dedicate their freehold land for access under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000;
	(3)  what measures she will take to encourage public bodies to dedicate suitable landholdings as access land under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000;
	(4)  what steps she will take in promoting to landowners the opportunities available to them to dedicate their land under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000;
	(5)  what measures she has taken to inform other Government Departments about the possibilities of dedicating land as access land under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; and what response there has been.

Alun Michael: I expect to publish guidance and model dedication instruments for those wishing to dedicate their land by the beginning of December 2003. I have discussed with the Forestry Commission what funds might be needed to ensure that they are able to meet their commitment on dedication of their freehold estate.
	We are developing a strategy for promoting dedication to landowners, which will highlight the benefits of dedication, including the reduced liability that owners will incur and the opportunities to realise the potential that increasing visitor numbers has on the rural economy. This will build on the work undertaken by the Forestry Commission in 2001 when it ran seminars to encourage dedication by woodland owners.
	I wrote to Ministers in all Departments in February 2002 about the scope for dedication of land held by Government Departments and sponsored non-departmental public bodies. I have also pursued this point with some commercial organisations that are significant landowners. Now that the dedication regulations have been laid, I will be following this correspondence up, not least to encourage all Government Departments to actively consider the extent to which their landholdings can be dedicated under section 16 and to ensure that the option is widely understood by private sector landowners.

Consultancy Contracts

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the contracts for (a) consultancy and (b) work carried out by Bechtel in each year since 1997, stating in each case (i) the nature of the work, (ii) the value of the contract and (iii) the duration of the contract; and if she will make a statement.

Alun Michael: holding answer 29 October 2003
	Defra was formed in 2001. From information held centrally, Defra has let no contracts with Bechtel.

Dairy Farms

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what arrangements she intends to put in place to improve the opportunity for United Kingdom dairy farmers to compete in European and global markets.

Ben Bradshaw: We are helping the UK dairy sector to compete better in European and global markets by promoting supply chain efficiency. My noble Friend Lord Whitty, has been chairing the Dairy Supply Chain Forum to consider, among other issues, ways in which the sector can improve its efficiency through collaborative action, and we have made a grant of nearly £0.5 million to the Food Chain Centre to study how the efficiency of the dairy supply chain might be improved. We have also supported the establishment of English Food and Farming Practices, a new industry-led body that has been set up specifically to support and encourage collective activity across all agricultural sectors. In addition to this, we are actively considering bringing decoupling forward to 2005 to give dairy farmers the freedom to restructure their businesses for the more competitively market orientated environment. Furthermore, the Milk Development Council has been working with Food from Britain to identify potential export markets for UK dairy products.

Dairy Farms

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with representatives from the dairy industry on the dispute over the price per litre of milk paid to liquid milk producers.

Ben Bradshaw: Price negotiations between producers and processors, or processors and supermarkets, are a private commercial matter in which the Government cannot and should not get involved, as long as competition rules are respected. While the Government share producers' concerns over the low farmgate price of milk, they do not support protests.
	The Secretary of State has had no formal meetings with representatives of the dairy industry to discuss milk prices or the current protests. However, Ministers frequently meet with representatives from all parts of the dairy sector and are therefore aware of the issues. In addition, matters affecting the whole dairy supply chain are regularly discussed at the forum chaired by my noble Friend Lord Whitty.

Environment Council

Jimmy Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what the outcome was of the Environment Council on 27 October 2003; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including their voting record; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will make a statement on the issues discussed in the meeting of the EU Environment Council on 27 October 2003.

Elliot Morley: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I represented the UK at the Environment Council on 27 October 2003. The Council reached a political agreement on one legislative measure, and also considered a number of other important issues.
	The Council reached a political agreement on a Directive on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in paints. This measure aims to reduce emissions from paints of these organic solvents, which are precursors of ground-level ozone which can be harmful to human health and the environment. We retained a reservation on the proposal as parliamentary scrutiny is not yet complete. Greece asked for further time to implement limits for decorative paints and varnishes, but its request was turned down.
	The Council agreed conclusions on the Commission's proposed structural indicators for reporting on progress on employment, innovation, economic reform, social cohesion and environmental protection to the spring European Council. There was general support for the proposed set of 14 headline indicators of which three would be environment-related. Some delegations proposed including new indicators on biodiversity and public health. I stressed the importance of using robust and meaningful indicators. I pointed out that any biodiversity indicator should be able to measure progress towards the EU's target of halting loss of biodiversity by 2010, for example, along the lines of an index proposed by Birdlife International. The current proposal, on protected areas, was not adequate. The Council agreed that the three proposed environment-related indicators, on climate change, energy intensity and transport, should be reformulated in order to focus on the most significant environmental impacts and that good quality indicators on biodiversity and health should be included as soon as possible so as to cover all of the priority areas identified in the EU sustainable development strategy.
	The Council agreed conclusions on the Commission's proposal for a European strategy on environment and health. This strategy is intended to reduce the disease burden caused by environmental factors in the EU, to identify and prevent new health threats caused by new environmental factors. We also agreed conclusions on the Commission's proposal for an integrated product policy, aimed at reducing the environmental impacts that arise in the supply chain and life-cycle of products.
	The Presidency noted a presentation from the Commission on the results of its public consultation on a legislative proposal for an EU chemicals strategy. The Council also noted a presentation from the Commission on proposals for implementing the provisions of the Aarhus Convention in the EC and on access to justice in environmental matters. We heard a report from Sweden on a ministerial conference they had hosted on environment and sustainable development in northern Europe, and the Commission circulated a report on progress on thematic strategies under the 6th Environment Action programme. Portugal gave a presentation about the devastating forest fires they had experienced this summer, stressing the importance of tackling this issue for the future.
	Belgium and France gave short presentations calling for member states' co-operation to reduce ozone levels. The Commission indicated its readiness to help and drew attention to existing measures that might facilitate co-operation and exchange of information.
	Belgium presented a short paper on decommissioning of ships, expressing concern in particular about the export of vessels to developing countries for disposal. I supported Belgium's concerns, stressing the need to ensure that first class and environmentally sound dismantling facilities are available in the EU.
	The Commission then called upon member states to support a protocol on sustainable development to the Treaty being considered by the Inter-Governmental Conference.
	We also discussed preparations for the 9th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP9) and the Kyoto project mechanisms. After an exchange of views, we agreed to reconvene on 8 December 2003, immediately preceding COP9, to discuss the outstanding issues.

GM Crops

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what spray density in litres per hectare was used in the GM maize farmscale evaluation programme; and what spray density she expects will be used if commercial cultivation of GM maize goes ahead.

Elliot Morley: The recommended individual and maximum permitted application rates of the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium used on GM maize in the farm-scale evaluations were defined by the conditions of the simulated product licence that formed part of the experimental pesticide approval. This specified a maximum permitted rate of eight litres per hectare and a recommended individual rate of four litres per hectare, depending on the weeds present and their growth stage. Application was permitted until the nine-leaf stage of maize. For further details, and for details of other non-herbicide sprays used, see Champion et al. 2003; "Crop Management and Agronomic Context of the Farm Scale Evaluations of Genetically Modified Herbicide Tolerant Crops"; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B). 358 (1439): 1801–18. A copy of this journal has been placed in the Library.
	Before glufosinate-ammonium could be used on a commercial scale on GM-maize, it would need full pesticide approval. In seeking approval, the necessary data package would have to be supplied by the applicant and be subjected to the considerations of human and environmental safety which have been established for all pesticide uses. Any approval given would specify recommended and maximum application rates in the same way as the experimental permit. These conditions would be determined by the Pesticide Safety Directorate taking due account of advice from their expert advisory committee the Advisory Committee on Pesticides.

National Fruit Show

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Ministers have visited the National Fruit Show (Marden Fruit Show) since 1997.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 27 October 2003
	No Minister has been able to attend the National Fruit Show in recent years.

Radioactive Waste

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will publish (a) guidance to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the interim conditioning, packaging and storage of radioactive waste and (b) the study on the case for extending waste substitution, referred to in the Government's First Progress Report to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Managing Radioactive Waste Safely.

Elliot Morley: The interim conditioning, packaging and storage of radioactive waste will be among the matters to be included in the plans that sites will prepare for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The appropriate regulators will be consulted on the plans. The waste substitution study is expected to be issued for consultation shortly.

St. Helena

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much wild honey has been imported from St. Helena over the last five years; and if she will take steps to ensure that St. Helena continues to be able to export honey to EU countries.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 3 November 2003
	No wild honey has been imported from St. Helena over the last five years. EU rules do not allow the export of wild honey from St. Helena to the European Union.

St. Helena

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what quantities of Arabica coffee were imported in each of the last five years from St. Helena.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 3 November 2003
	The table shows UK imports of coffee from St. Helena in each of the last five years. Arabica coffee is not specifically identified in official overseas trade statistics.
	
		
			  Tonnes 
		
		
			 1998 1.8 
			 1999 1.7 
			 2000 1.1 
			 2001 0.4 
			 2002 0.7 
		
	
	Source:
	H M Customs and Excise
	Data prepared by Statistics (Commodities & Food) Consultancy Trade & IT, ESD, DEFRA

Waste Management

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the tonnage of tyres (a) sent to waste and (b) dealt with by each method of waste disposal was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Margaret Beckett: The latest available figures for used tyres are for 2001. These show that 481,496 tonnes of tyres went for disposal; of these, 290,496 tonnes (60.3 per cent.) were recovered, broken down as follows:
	
		
			 Recovery option Tonnes Percentage of waste tyres 
		
		
			 Reuse 78,217 16.0 
			 Retreading 49,179 9.9 
			 Recycling 107,000 22.2 
			 Landfill engineering 16,100 3.3 
			 Energy recovery 40,000 8.3 
			 Total 290,496 60.3 
		
	
	Sources:
	Various.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

War Crimes

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Solicitor-General on how many occasions since the coming into force of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 the Attorney-General's consent has been sought to bring a prosecution for war crimes; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: Owing to the way records are kept in the Attorney-General's department answer to this question cannot be provided without disproportionate cost. Applications for consent are not recorded by reference to the offence for which the application is made. Also, a request unaccompanied by evidence may not be recorded as an application.

DEFENCE

Alcohol Limits

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the legal alcohol limit is for (a) operating equipment and (b) driving on military bases in Scotland; when the adequacy of this limit was last reviewed; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: There is no statutory alcohol limit laid down for operating equipment on military bases in Scotland or elsewhere. Where military bases are served by public roads in the UK, the statutory alcohol limits imposed by the Road Traffic Act 1988 apply. If the military bases are not served by public roads, service personnel are subject to standing and local orders which regulate alcohol consumption. Personnel may be prosecuted under the Service Discipline Acts for being unfit for duty as a result of consuming excess alcohol or contravening orders. Commanding officers and the chain of command are very aware of the requirement to provide a safe working environment.

Breathalyser Tests

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the (a) minimum and (b) maximum alcohol levels recorded by breathalyser tests in alcohol related cases investigated by military police on each military base in Scotland in 2003; what the comparable readings were in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: No such tests have been conducted.

Disused Army Barracks

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list (a) the disused army barracks that his Department is selling, (b) the size of each plot and (c) the selling price of each site.

Ivor Caplin: The table of army barracks that the Ministry of Defence is currently selling is as follows.
	
		
			 Site name and address Area in Hectares 
		
		
			 McGrigor Barracks, Hospital Road, Aldershot, Hampshire 7.1 
			 Montgomery Lines—South Alisons Road, Aldershot, Hampshire 19.1 
			 Montgomery Lines—North Part, Alisons Road, Aldershot, Hampshire 12.6 
			 Wainscott Camp, Hoo Road, Wainscott, Kent 4.61 
			 Stonebridge Camp, Mundford, Thetford, Norfolk 1.39 
			 Oakington Barracks, Rampton Drift, Longstanton, Cambs 289.7 
			 RE Depot, Long Marston, Warwickshire 185 
			 Saighton Camp, Huntingdon, Chester, Cheshire 48.58 
		
	
	I am withholding the internal valuation of surplus sites in accordance with Exemption 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Drink Driving (Scotland)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many occurrences of drink driving recorded by military police there were in each of the military bases in Scotland each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: The service police have no powers in Great Britain to stop and breathalyse persons suspected of committing an offence under the 1988 Road Traffic Act.

Suez Medal

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the procedures to be followed by veterans in order to claim the Suez medal.

Ivor Caplin: I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement of 23 October 2003, Official Report, columns 45–46WS, and Command Paper 5999.

Suez Medal

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Suez Canal Zone medal applications have been received from (a) Chorley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West; and how many have been granted.

Ivor Caplin: The Ministry of Defence is very keen to issue medals to eligible veterans as quickly as possible. There is already a sizeable backlog of applications which has accumulated in recent weeks. I would not, therefore, wish to divert staff at the medal offices to undertake an exercise of the sort that has been requested, at the expense of issuing the medal to Suez veterans.

TRANSPORT

Airline Competition

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the fairness of competition between airlines operating in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: Fairness of competition between airlines is a matter for the UK competition authorities and, insofar as there is a potential effect on trade between EU member states, the European Commission.

Aviation Landing Charges

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to equalise aviation landing charges throughout the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: There are no plans because the Government do not set landing charges. These are set by the airport operator and, in the case of the designated airports, the CAA sets a price cap to airport charges in its capacity as economic regulator.

Bus Safety

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) bus drivers and (b) bus passengers were injured as a result of items being thrown at buses in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: The information is not available. The Department collects information on bus drivers assaulted by members of the public, assaults on passengers on buses and vandalism to vehicles, but this is not sufficiently detailed to determine how many injuries were as a result of objects thrown at buses.

Central Railway

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will decide on the Central Railway project.

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to announce his decision on the Central Railway proposals; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: A decision will be made as soon as is practicable.

Entry Clearance

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether, in respect of applications for entry clearance from working holiday makers, identical requirements and conditions are applied for applicants from each Commonwealth country.

Chris Mullin: I have been asked to reply.
	Yes.

Heathrow Airport

John Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department will take to instigate levels of nitrogen dioxide consistently within EU limits by 2010 at Heathrow Airport.

Tony McNulty: Heathrow Airport lies within an Air Quality Management Area declared by adjacent local authorities. Various emissions sources may contribute to potential NO2 exceedances in 2010. In the vicinity of Heathrow Airport mitigation strategies could apply to aircraft, airside and road traffic sources, although general 'background' levels of NO2 are also a major contributor (as elsewhere). BAA plc is required to produce and review an Action Plan to minimise emissions from Heathrow Airport as a condition of the planning permission for the Fifth Terminal.

Kyoto Protocol

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government are taking in (a) European and (b) other international fora to encourage other countries to include international aviation in the Kyoto Agreement.

Tony McNulty: Emissions from international aviation are not included in national targets under the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2008–12). However, the Kyoto Protocol does require contracting parties to work through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. The Government are therefore working hard in ICAO to engage other countries in the climate change debate and to reduce emissions from aviation. Discussion on action beyond 2008–12 will begin in 2005 when the Government will work closely with all Parties and argue strongly that the framework for global action after 2012 should address international aviation emissions.

Mersey Tunnels

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he intends to establish a public inquiry into the proposed increase in the Mersey Tunnels toll.

Kim Howells: Yes. A date for when the inquiry will start will be announced in the near future.

Motorcycle Speeds

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions has he had with Triumph about motorcycles capable of 200mph; and what suggestions he made to the firm about manufacturing such a motorcycle.

David Jamieson: I have had no such discussions.

Passenger Transport (Tyne and Wear)

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his Department has had with transport operators and regulators in Tyne and Wear concerning (a) integrated passenger transport networks and (b) the future of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Kim Howells: Officials from the Transport Team at the Government Office for the North East have meetings, on an approximately quarterly basis, with officers at Nexus (Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive). Discussions cover the full range of Nexus' work in developing and promoting an integrated passenger transport network in Tyne and Wear, including buses, rail, metro, ferry and concessionary fares. In addition Government Office officials attend regular meetings chaired by the North East Assembly, attended by representatives of bus and rail operators providing services in Tyne and Wear.
	Officials from Government Office for the North East and Department for Transport have also had several meetings during the past year with Nexus concerning its proposals for the future development of the Tyne and Wear Metro and the possibility of tram and bus based extensions to the system. The most recent meeting was held on 21 October 2003. I understand that Nexus intends to submit an outline business case for funding for these developments in 2004 and officials have provided advice to Nexus on their potential submission.

River Tyne (Dredging)

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the locations on the River Tyne that are the subject of discussions between his Department and the Port of Tyne Authority concerning the dredging and disposal of contaminated sediment.

Kim Howells: The locations on the River Tyne that are the subject of the application from the Port of Tyne Authority to DEFRA for a licence for the dredging and sea disposal of contaminated sediment, submitted in February 2003, are referenced in the application as:
	A. A & P (Tyne) Ltd. North Shields
	B. Branmore Investments Ltd. (ex-Cammell Laird (South Shields Ltd.)
	C. AkerMcNultyLtd.
	D. Swan Hunter (Tyneside) Ltd. East Fitting Out Quay
	E. A & P (Tyne) Ltd.—Wallsend Dry Docks
	F. Neptune Yard
	G. A & P (Tyne) Ltd.—Hebburn Bede Quay, West Quay & No 2 Dry Dock
	H. Shepherds Offshore Ltd. Offshore Technology Park
	I. Bill Point—Channel
	On-going discussions on this issue are primarily between the Port of Tyne Authority and DEFRA.

River Tyne (Dredging)

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what alternative disposal routes his Department has identified with the Port of Tyne Authority for contaminated sediment dredged from the River Tyne.

Kim Howells: It is not for the Department for Transport to determine alternative disposal routes for contaminated sediment dredged from the River Tyne. The Port of Tyne Authority made an application, in February 2003, to DEFRA for a licence for the dredging and sea disposal of contaminated sediment from various locations on the River Tyne. Discussions on matters of detail relating to this application are on-going and, primarily, for the Port Authority and DEFRA.

River Tyne (Dredging)

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the negotiations between the Port of Tyne Authority and his Department concerning the dredging of the river to reach a conclusion.

Kim Howells: Negotiations concerning the dredging of the River Tyne are primarily for the Port of Tyne Authority and DEFRA in connection with the Port Authority's application for a licence, submitted to DEFRA in February 2003, for the dredging and sea disposal of contaminated sediment from various locations on the river. Discussions between the Port Authority and the Department for Transport about this matter will continue until such time as a satisfactory conclusion is reached. I am aware that further information is being sought from the Port of Tyne Authority as part of their on-going discussions with DEFRA and that a final decision cannot be reached until such time as all the facts are to hand. It is not possible at this stage to say when this might be but the need to move to an early resolution is fully recognised.

Road Safety

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research he has commissioned on the correlation between the speed of vehicles and the number of road accidents.

David Jamieson: The Department has commissioned various studies into the correlation between vehicle speed and road accidents. These are either summarised or referenced in the Department's review of speed management policy entitled "New Directions in Speed Management—A review of policy" published in March 2000. Copies of this document are available in the Libraries of the House.

Road Safety

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the reasons for the slowing down of the rate of decrease in road fatalities in this decade.

David Jamieson: The Transport Research Laboratory has been commissioned to investigate the reasons for the slowing down of the rate of decrease in road fatalities as part of their on-going work on monitoring the progress towards the 2010 casualty reduction target. It is a complex issue that demands in-depth analysis because there are different trends for different road user groups and for different accident types.

Road Safety

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to improve the standard of driving on roads; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: One of our key road safety goals is to improve the standard of driving and our road safety strategy sets out a number of measures to achieve this. "Tomorrow's roads: safer for everyone", published in March 2000, is available in the Libraries of the House.

Road Safety

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to improve road signage and road markings.

David Jamieson: The appearance of signs and markings, and conditions for their placing, are specified in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (SI 3113), which came into effect earlier this year. Guidance on good practice in the design and use of signs is given in the Traffic Signs Manual. An updated Chapter 7, on sign design, and Chapter 5, on road markings, will be published later this month. It is the responsibility of individual traffic authorities to ensure that signs and markings are used in conformity with the statutory requirements and Government guidance.

Road Safety

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the risk to (a) motorists and (b) pedestrians posed by the level of non-compliance with traffic signals by pedal cyclists in London.

Tony McNulty: The Department has made no such assessment. It is an offence for any vehicle not to stop at traffic signals when required to do so. Any cyclist or other road user who fails to comply with traffic signals is a danger to themselves and other road users.

Road Safety

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the merits of licensing pedal cycles as a means to improve compliance by cyclists with road traffic regulations.

Tony McNulty: The Department has examined the case for a road tax on cyclists in the past. It would require a registration system like the one for motor vehicles and the costs of the system would certainly outweigh any benefits for enforcement of road traffic offences by cyclists. Moreover, increasing the costs of cycling would not support our policy of encouraging more people to consider cycling as a viable mode of transport and we have no plans to introduce such a tax.

Road Safety

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals he has to make the wearing of bicycle helmets compulsory when riding on roads; and if he will make a statement on their safety uses.

David Jamieson: A study commissioned by the Department to look into the effectiveness of cycle helmets, published in November last year, found that overall, the evidence suggests that cycle helmets are effective at reducing the severity of brain and upper facial injuries for all ages, and especially children. This reinforces our view that we should encourage helmets to be worn by children.
	A survey undertaken by the Transport Research Laboratory measuring wearing rates in 2002 found that the rate for all cyclists on built-up major roads was 25 per cent. The wearing rate is continuing to increase, with the exception of boys under 16 where the rate has reduced from 16 per cent. in 1994 to 12 per cent. in 2002. At these levels making helmets compulsory would cause enforcement difficulties and without greater public acceptance could have an effect on levels of cycling. We are making special efforts to persuade adolescents, and especially boys, to wear helmets. We will continue to monitor wearing rates by all ages and review the option of compulsory wearing from time to time.

Road Safety

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have died from head injuries whilst riding a bicycle in each of the past 15 years.

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. James Wray, dated 5 November 2003
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people have died from head injuries whilst riding a bicycle in each of the past 15 years. I am replying in his absence. (136160)
	The latest year for which data are available is 2002. The attached table for 1988 to 2002 inclusive, shows the number of deaths certified as being due to head injuries in cyclists.
	
		Number of deaths of cyclists from head injuries(1), England and Wales, 1988–2002(2)
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1988 182 
			 1989 196 
			 1990 185 
			 1991 177 
			 1992 141 
			 1993 91 
			 1994 88 
			 1995 130 
			 1996 109 
			 1997 102 
			 1998 79 
			 1999 95 
			 2000 63 
			 2001(3) 59 
			 2002(3) 56 
		
	
	(1) Selected using the International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision (ICD-9) underlying cause of death codes E800-E807 (.3), E810-E19 (.6), E820-E825 (.6), E826 (cyclists) combined with secondary cause codes 800–804 or 850–854 (head injuries) for 1988 to 2000 and the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision (ICD-10) underlying cause of death codes V10-V19 (cyclists) combined with secondary cause codes SOO- S09 (head injuries) for 2001 and 2002,
	(2) Figures are for the number of deaths registered in each year between 1988 and 1992 and for the number of deaths occurring in each year between 1993 and 2002.
	(3) Data for 2001 and 2002 may not be directly comparable to those for previous years, due to the introduction of ICD-10 in 200 L The figures should therefore be interpreted with caution!
	Sources:
	1. Office for National Statistics
	2. Griffiths C and Rooney C (2003) The effect of the introduction of ICD-10 on trends in mortality from injury and poisoning in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 19, 10–21.

Road Safety

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to raise awareness of safety issues on the roads for (a) bicycle users and for (b) car drivers.

David Jamieson: The Road Safety Strategy, "Tomorrow's Roads—Safer for Everyone" sets out our aims to improve road safety for cyclists and car drivers. This is being done through publicity, training opportunities for cyclists, education initiatives and driver testing and training. Recent publicity campaigns have included drink driving, speed, mobile phones, seat belts and cycle helmets.

WALES

Crime and Disorder

Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to seek a joint meeting of representatives of the police, local government, the National Assembly for Wales, the NHS and the Home Office to discuss issues relating to tackling crime and disorder in Wales.

Peter Hain: The Welsh Community Safety Unit works closely with the 22 Community Safety Partnerships in Wales to tackle crime and disorder. The membership of these partnerships includes the police, local authorities and local health bodies.

Euro

Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has held with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the impact of the rate of the euro on European funding available in Wales.

Don Touhig: My right hon. Friend and I meet regularly with Treasury Ministers to discuss a range of issues.
	The Spending Review 2002 settlement enabled the Welsh Assembly to continue to meets its commitment to the success of the Objective 1 programme in Wales.
	I understand that £595 million has so far been committed to 955 projects in West Wales and the Valleys.

Community Support Officers

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of community support officers in Wales.

Don Touhig: The Government are carrying out an on-going assessment of CSOs throughout England and Wales. Forces with CSOs are submitting evaluations now and we hope to provide an interim assessment by the end of the year.
	CSOs have been welcomed across Wales and I have been impressed by the amount of positive feedback that has been received even at this early stage.

Manufacturing

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement on employment in the manufacturing sector in Wales.

Peter Hain: Manufacturing industry is a major contributor to our economy and to employment in the UK and in Wales.
	The Government are committed to stimulating enterprise and economic growth through our macroeconomic policies, funding programmes and our "Manufacturing Strategy".

Farming

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to promote the prosperity of Welsh farming.

Don Touhig: Over the last few months I have visited a range of agricultural producers and manufacturers across Wales and I will continue to do everything possible to promote Welsh produce and producers.

Women in the Work Force

Julie Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to assist the retention of women in the work force in Wales.

Don Touhig: Widening employment opportunities for women has always been a key priority for the Government. As examples of recent legislation, all women are now entitled to 26 weeks' maternity leave, and employers must give serious consideration to parents' requests for flexible working arrangements. Financial support has also been made available to enhance the provision of child care facilities—in Wales this is the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Painkillers

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Department of Health regarding the number of painkillers available over the counter in Wales which contain codeine phosphate.

Don Touhig: I have not held specific discussions on products containing codeine phosphate, but I am aware that the position in Wales is the same as that in England.
	According to the records held by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), there are currently 96 granted marketing authorisations for medicinal products containing the active ingredient codeine phosphate. These are licensed as pharmacy medicines and are available without prescription from a pharmacy under the supervision of a pharmacist. No products containing codeine phosphate are licensed for general sale.
	The National Assembly has recently supported 'Ask about Medicines Week' in October. This is an awareness week to highlight the role of pharmacists and increase people's understanding of medicines.

TREASURY

Automatic Teller Machines

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether United Kingdom consumers withdrawing euros from automatic teller machines in European Union member states are subject to additional charges.

Ruth Kelly: Whether United Kingdom consumers are subject to charges for withdrawing euros from automated teller machines in European Union member states is determined by the terms and conditions of their accounts and of the automated teller machines they use.

Cross-border Payments Regulation

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the effect upon consumers of the cross border payments regulation adopted on 1 July 2002.

Ruth Kelly: The Regulation on cross-border payments in euro seeks to prevent excessive charges for consumers for certain cross-border payments in euro by imposing requirements in connection with the level, transparency and facilitation of charges for these types of payments. It does not apply to sterling denominated payments.

Children Trust Fund

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of children in Coventry he estimates will benefit from the additional £250 to the Child Trust Fund.

Ruth Kelly: This information is not available. However, it is estimated that around a third of all children will receive the additional payment of £250.

Debt Cancellation

John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of third world debt which the IMF and World Bank is prepared to cancel; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The UK Government remain fully committed to the rapid and full implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative to ensure that it delivers a robust exit from unsustainable debt for the world's poorest countries. At present, 27 countries have reached Decision Point and have started to receive interim relief. Of these countries, eight have reached Completion Point and are now also receiving irrevocable debt relief.
	In the September 2003 publication "Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative: Status of Implementation", the staffs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided an update on progress under the Initiative and new estimates of costs. This document is available on both the World Bank and the IMF websites. Table 9 in the document sets out the status of delivery of assistance by the World Bank. Under the original and enhanced HIPC Initiatives, the World Bank has made total debt service reduction commitments of US$12.4 billion and has delivered $2.5 billion.
	Table 11 sets out the status of delivery of assistance by the IMF. Under the original and enhanced HIPC Initiatives, the IMF has made total debt service reduction commitments of SDR £1.8 billion (approximately $1.3 billion) and has disbursed SDR £1 billion (approximately $740 million). The Special Drawing Right (SDR) serves as the unit of account of the IMF and is allocated to member countries in proportion to their IMF quotas.
	The UK has provided commitments of around £2 billion of debt relief to eligible HIPC countries and has pledged a total of $474 million through the multilateral institutions to further support the initiative. The UK is committed to providing 100 per cent. relief for eligible HIPC countries, and calls for all bilateral, multilateral and commercial creditors to participate in the Initiative.
	The HIPC Initiative has an important role to play in maximising the resources available for poverty reduction in developing countries. However, unless there is an increase in the volume of resources available from donors to poor countries, additional debt relief would simply reallocate resources from one form of financing to another, and from non-HIPC poor countries to HIPC countries, without adding to the overall financing available for poverty reduction. Furthermore all HIPC countries would still need additional aid to meet the Millennium Development Goals even if all of their debt from the World Bank and IMF were forgiven. That is why the UK's proposal for an International Finance Facility is so important. It can provide the much-needed substantial increase in resources that debt relief alone would not achieve, which could be disbursed by way of grants and additional debt relief.

Economy (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have been registered for VAT in the York unitary authority area in each year since 1995.

John Healey: VAT Registration thresholds are reviewed as part of the Budget process. The Small Business Service produces statistics that are available on their website at www.sbs.gov.uk which show that VAT registrations for the York unitary authority area from 1995 were as follows:
	
		
			  New registrations Total registrations 
		
		
			 1995 405 4,020 
			 1996 390 4,035 
			 1997 435 4,115 
			 1998 415 4,200 
			 1999 410 4,250 
			 2000 445 4,335 
			 2001 440 4,395 
			 2002 435 4,440

Fuel Duty

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the recent increase in fuel duty.

John Healey: My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the increase in fuel duty in his Budget statement in April.
	Following that announcement, the legislation implementing this change was debated in Parliament as part of the Finance Bill, which received Royal Assent on 10 July and it took effect on 1 October.

Futurebuilders Investment Fund

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps have been taken to appoint the fund managers of the futurebuilders investment fund.

John Healey: An open competition to appoint the fund managers was launched on 10 September. A procurement exercise is now under way. It is hoped to make an appointment in December, with the funds coming on stream in the last quarter of this financial year.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) total and (b) average liability for stamp duty land tax after 1 December for farm business tenancies; and if he will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: I regret that this information is not available.

Tax Credits

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people living in York have received each tax credit in each year since each was introduced.

John Healey: The numbers of families receiving the Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credits in each local authority and constituency in each quarter between May 2001 and November 2002 are shown in "Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses". Estimates, based on a sample of cases, of the numbers receiving the Child and Working Tax Credits in each local authority and constituency at July 2003 are shown in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses". These documents can be found on the Inland Revenue website, at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
	No corresponding estimates are available for the Children's Tax Credit.

Tax Credits

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated annual cost is of administering (a) child and (b) working tax credit.

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General gave my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Lynne Jones) on 3 June 2003, Official Report, column 30W.

VAT

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Exchequer proceeds were in the last financial year of charging value-added tax on cycle helmets.

John Healey: From 1 April 2001, the Government removed VAT from adult cycle helmets. Children's cycle helmets have never been subject to VAT.

Unemployment (Scotland)

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were unemployed in (a) the Edinburgh West parliamentary constituency, (b) the City of Edinburgh local authority area and (c) Scotland in each year between 1985 and 1995.

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
	Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. John Barrett, dated 5 November 2003
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the number of people unemployed in (a) the Edinburgh West parliamentary constituency, (b) the City of Edinburgh local authority area and (c) Scotland in each year between 1985 and 1995. I am replying in his absence. (136624)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following the internationally standard International Labour Organisation definition. However, the data for the years requested are not available. ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (ISA) or previous unemployment benefits for local areas including Parliamentary Constituencies. Data are not fully comparable over time.
	The table gives the average number of claimants each year from 1985 to 1995 in the Edinburgh West Parliamentary Constituency, City of Edinburgh Local Authority and in Scotland. The figures are not seasonally adjusted.
	
		Annual average level of claimants for the years 1985 to 1995
		
			  Edinburgh West parliamentary constituency(4) City of Edinburgh local authority Scotland 
		
		
			 1985 2,473 26,976 352,967 
			 1986 2,574 28,112 360,201 
			 1987 2,415 27,492 345,766 
			 1988 2,012 23,542 293,598 
			 1989 1,484 18,222 234,690 
			 1990 1,353 15,708 202,518 
			 1991 1,720 18,017 220,217 
			 1992 2,039 20,389 241,031 
			 1993 2,101 20,933 246,420 
			 1994 1,991 19,606 231,465 
			 1995 1,721 17,423 203,494 
		
	
	(4) Based on the 1981 Parliamentary Constituency wards.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when funds provided by his Department for landmine clearance in Afghanistan in 2003 were made available to de-mining teams there; what role the UN is playing in adminstering these funds; and when de-mining personnel in Afghanistan funded by his Department were first paid for this work in 2003.

Hilary Benn: In 2003 The Department For International Development has provided £2.3 million to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) for mine and unexploded ordnance clearance in Afghanistan. This has provided additional support to the on-going activities of UNMAS in Afghanistan allowing an increase in the number of deployed mine clearance teams from 94 to 134 and an increase in the number of mine action personnel to over 8,000. DFID does not directly fund humanitarian demining personnel in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on attacks on de-mining teams in Afghanistan.

Hilary Benn: Attacks on demining teams took place in March and April this year on the Kabul to Kandahar road. Since June 2003 the Ministry of Interior has provided four hundred guards to protect teams working on mine clearance and the reconstruction of the road between Kabul and Kandahar. As a result the number of attacks have decreased.

Aral Sea

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much money (a) his Department and (b) other Departments of the Government (i) have pledged and (ii) provided to the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFSAS) since its inception; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Governments of Central Asia established the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) in the early nineties; an interstate mechanism for developing and centrally funding regional environmental and research activity aimed at improving the environmental situation in the Aral Sea region. Although the established mechanism provides for an operational framework to generate international assistance, in practice the IFAS has failed to become a functioning institution with a strong regional environmental remit. The failure is attributed to a number of factors but chiefly by the general lack of enthusiasm by the governments in the region to cooperate on practical issues.
	A $12 million Water and Environmental Management Project financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), managed by an Executing Agency of IFAS, has a component to develop longer term, sustainable regional and national water management strategies; to replace the current system of annual ad hoc water allocation and distribution arrangements which is slowly breaking down. This strategy will help to develop strategic choices at the river basin level such as water allocation between and within the five states, cost sharing for operations, maintenance, rehabilitation and improvement of the existing infrastructure. The UK contributes to the GEF and last year DFID provided an additional contribution of £15 million to the third replenishment.

Departmental Energy Use

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) electricity and (b) other energy his Department has used in each year since 1997 (i) in total and (ii) per square metre; what the projected use is for each of the following years for which forecasts are made; what plans he has to reduce usage; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: For information on how much electricity and other energy DFID has used in each year since 1997 I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Bradshaw) on 4 November 2003, Official Report, column 403W.
	Forecasts of future consumption are still in the process of being developed. We have occupied our 1 Palace Street building for less than two years and a reliable baseline is only now emerging. Similarly, our East Kilbride office is undergoing extensive refurbishment and extension that will completely alter the energy consumption picture there, and our subsidiary London office is being vacated in 2004 so is excluded from future predictions. However the Department's aim is to reduce its energy consumption in accordance with Government targets, and to this end the London and East Kilbride refurbishments include such features as energy-efficient boilers, low-energy light bulbs and tubes, and, where appropriate, movement sensors instead of light switches to ensure that lights are not left on unnecessarily in unoccupied rooms. The offices have also had their computer monitors replaced throughout with low-energy flat screens. In addition, the London office electricity supply has been 100 per cent. from renewable sources since July 2002, while from this month the new supply contract for East Kilbride is 10 per cent. renewable (the maximum available there). Also at East Kilbride, a feasibility study for an on-site wind turbine is currently under way. The staff Green Awareness programme includes an energy section and a computer switch-off campaign backed up by monthly monitoring and feedback.
	DFID is committed to the Government's Sustainable Development Framework and Targets, which include an Energy component, and is developing an Environmental Management System based on ISO 14001 in order to deliver these. Building management systems incorporate energy reduction elements; consumption is monitored monthly and any undue increases investigated.

Sexual and Reproductive Health

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list bilateral aid for (a) reproductive health care, (b) family planning and (c) sexually transmitted disease control including HIV/AIDS, broken down by (i) project or sector aid, (ii) programme aid, (iii) technical co-operation, (iv) grants and other aid in kind, (v) humanitarian assistance, (vi) his Department's programme and (vii) CDC investments for each financial year since 1996; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The following provides the figures for DFID bilateral expenditure on 'HIV/AIDS' 1 and 'Reproductive Health' 2 .
	We regard reproductive health as an essential and inseparable element of good health. We believe that the best way to deliver this is for people to be given the right, freedom and support necessary to enable them to take full individual and personal control of their own fertility and reproductive health. Reproductive health continues to be a key priority for DFID and we remain firmly committed to the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) target of achieving access to reproductive health for all by 2015.
	There is no simple solution to HIV/AIDS crisis. It is a very complex and globally diverse epidemic. Condoms or drugs alone are not the answer to tackling HIV/AIDS. The fight against HIV/AIDS also has to include effective public health programmes involving education, prevention, treatment, care and support. For any of these programmes to be implemented successfully they need to involve government, education, health, agriculture, civil society and the private sector and this is the approach the UK promotes.
	In financial year 2002–03 alone DFID spent over £270 million on projects related to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
	1 'Multisectoral Responses to HIV/AIDS' covers all activities related to HIV/AIDS control including information, education and communication; voluntary counselling and testing; prevention; treatment, care and support; research; sexually transmitted disease control and prevention.
	2 'Reproductive health' covers HIV/AIDS programmes, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and maternal and adolescent health. It also encompasses the services for family planning, contraception and childbearing that make an important contribution to increasing women's choice and opportunity and to preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
	
		£000
		
			  Financial aid (Excl ATP) Other programmes 
			  Project or Sector aid Programmeaid Technical cooperation Grants and other aid in kind Humanitarian assistance(5) Total DFID programme2 CDC investments 
		
		
			  Multisectoral responses to HIV/AIDS   
			 1996–97 1,220 6 3,295 6,889 — 11,410 — 
			 1997–98 1,555 3 4,821 4,181 — 10,560 — 
			 1998–99 1,830 — 6,343 4,940 — 13,113 — 
			 1999–2000 996 — 8,807 5,443 112 15,358 — 
			 2000–01 342 — 7,811 7,034 — 15,187 — 
			 2001–02 3,938 — 16,320 5,712 — 25,970 — 
			 2002–03 4,167 — 29,265 17,357 — 50,789 — 
			 
			  Reproductive health (includes family planning)  
			 1996–97 2,505 — 12,878 13,907 — 29,290 — 
			 1997–98 2,134 — 18,583 14,969 — 35,686 — 
			 1998–99 2,240 — 11,934 18,212 — 32,386 — 
			 999–2000 2,415 — 16,580 16,781 — 35,775 — 
			 2000–01 6,639 — 17,825 16,790 — 41,255 — 
			 2001–02 4,827 — 18,533 14,380 — 37,739 — 
			 2002–03 9,172 — 19,710 12,340 — 41,222 — 
		
	
	(5) Humanitarian Assistance comprises food aid and other humanitarian assistance.
	(6) 2001–02 is a unique year in that total DFID expenditure is understated by around £140 million due to move to resource accounting.
	Note:
	These figures understate the expenditure figures as they are based on Economic Sector codes. Until recently DFID systems only allowed one Economic Sector code to be applied to each activity, even if the activity was relevant to more than one economic sector.

Sexual and Reproductive Health

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list his Department's total funding to (a) UNFPA, (b) WHO sexual and reproductive health programme, (c) UNICEF sexual and reproductive health programme, (d) UNAIDS, (e) International Planned Parenthood Federation, (f) Marie Stopes International, (g) Interact Worldwide (population concern) and (h) International Family Health in each financial year since 1996 for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The following table details the funding provided to the various organisations listed since 1996.
	We regard reproductive health as an essential and inseparable element of good health. We believe that the best way to deliver this is for people to be given the right, freedom and support necessary to enable them to take full individual and personal control of their own fertility and reproductive health. Reproductive health continues to be a key priority for DFID and we remain firmly committed to the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) target of achieving access to reproductive health for all by 2015.
	DFID support for reproductive health is wide ranging. It covers HIV/AIDS programmes, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and maternal and adolescent health. Reproductive health also encompasses the services for family planning, contraception and childbearing that make an important contribution to increasing women's choice and opportunity and to preventing unplanned or unwanted pregnancy. Family planning services also provide an important opportunity to improve sexual health and in particular to increase women's access to methods that help prevent HIV infection.
	In financial year 2002–3 alone DFID spent over £270 million on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS programmes.
	
		£000
		
			  DFID programme 
			  1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 
		
		
			 UN AIDS 3,500 2,300 2,750 3,000 3,000 3,052 3,052 
			 UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) 13,847 9,241 10,461 29,143 2,619 17,500 17,366 
			 UN Population Fund (UN FPA) 10,000 11,500 13,120 15,000 40,050 24,213 9,000 
			 World Health Organisation (WHO) 11,619 12,099 8,091 20,300 75,110 41,348 34,156 
			 International Planned Parenthood Federation 7,850 5,850 5,500 5,500 5,500 4,500 4,500 
			 Marie Slopes International 3,202 3,103 4,235 4,945 5,132 2,554 2,979 
			 Interact Worldwide (Population Concern) 91 138 28 51 3 0 0 
			 International Family Health 762 1,175 1,151 773 508 628 — 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures are "regular budget" or contributions made by DFID centrally and do not include country specific expenditure agreed at country level.
	2. The figures for UNICEF and WHO cover the block grants we provide to each organisation. It is not possible to apportion the amounts allocated to sexual and reproductive health programmes.

India

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has (a) pledged and (b) contributed to emergency relief programmes for victims of the Orissa Floods in India; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID did not receive any request for assistance from the Government of Orissa, nor any NGO for the floods in year 2003. However, Care India utilised £25,000 for flood relief from an on-going DFID supported drought relief project of £1.5 million. It was encouraging to note that Government of Orissa was well equipped and organised to manage the flood relief.
	In 2001 DFID contributed £800,000 for flood relief through UNDP and International NGOs. The relief focused on two key areas: agriculture and a combination of cash/food-for-work programmes.

Iraq

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many unexploded cluster bomblets he estimates there are in Basra; how many unexploded cluster bomblets have been (a) cleared and (b) marked by munition clearance organisations in Basra since the end of hostilities in Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: UK forces used approximately 80 cluster bombs against a number of Iraqi military targets and fired around 2,000 artillery delivered L20A1 Enhanced Range Bomblet Shells, mainly in the UK area of operations around Basrah. The UK has over 120 military personnel in Iraq, approximately 1 per cent. of our total in-theatre force, for clearance of explosive remnants of war, and a significant number of Royal Engineers are involved in the marking and fencing of bomblet strike and mined areas. They have already completed 1,600 clearance tasks of unexploded ordnance of all types and have now made safe 619,000 explosive remnants of war and 350,000 small arms rounds.

Mine Clearance

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's spending on mine clearance by the United Nations.

Hilary Benn: DFID's current policy of channelling a high proportion of its funds for Humanitarian Demining via United Nations Agencies is currently being reviewed. This will be the first formal review of the policy. The UN agencies have a mixed record of success in their various roles; in particular the role of global co-ordination and the management of field operations could be improved. However there have also been some significant successes (Kosovo and Sudan are two examples).

Pakistan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has (a) pledged and (b) contributed to emergency relief programmes for the victims of the Tharparkar Floods in the Sindh province of Pakistan; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Following the floods in August DFID made a contribution of £97,100 to Oxfam UK to help address the immediate needs of 2000 families in Badin District in Sindh Province.
	Emergency assistance to affected families was also provided by the national authorities of Pakistan, UN agencies and other international non-government organisations to meet the immediate needs of those affected.

Safe Drinking Water

Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proportion of the population of (a) Zambia, (b) Ethiopia, (c) Iraq and (d) Malawi he estimates has access to a plentiful supply of safe drinking water.

Hilary Benn: The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 (World Health Organisation (WHO)/United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)) provides baseline figures on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Joint Monitoring Programme is continuing and will provide the United Nations reference data for access to improved water supply.
	The figures for the proportion of the population with access to improved water supplies were:
	(a) Zambia: 64 per cent.;
	(b) Ethiopia: 24 per cent.;
	(c) Iraq: 85 per cent.;
	(d) Malawi: 57 per cent.
	DFID has provided substantial financial support and technical assistance to this initiative from the outset.

South Caucasus (Oil Pipeline)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the proposed South Caucasus oil pipeline; and what discussions he has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the environmental consequences of the proposed pipeline.

Hilary Benn: DFID interest in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project in the South Caucasus is as a shareholder of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The Board of the IFC has already decided to provide finance for this project, and the Board of the EBRD is expected to take a decision on this on 11 November.
	Both institutions have carried out rigorous due diligence, including on social, environment, legal and commercial issues, in accordance with their standard procedures. DFID has not duplicated this work but, in view of the complexity of the project, commissioned consultants to carry out an assessment of its compliance with the environmental safeguard policies of the IFC and EBRD. I am placing this assessment in the Library of the House.
	In considering the IFC and EBRD proposals on the BTC project, DFID carried out extensive Whitehall co-ordination, including with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Zimbabwe

Andrew Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will ask the UN Relief and Recovery Unit to publish reports confirmed of confirmed incidents of (a) politicisation and (b) the corrupt use of (i) international food aid and (ii) GMB grain in Zimbabwe.

Hilary Benn: The World Food Programme (WFP) have agreed with all their implementing partners a protocol for reporting irregularities, and in particular political interference, in relation to the distribution of donor-funded food aid, which accounts for the large majority of food being distributed in Zimbabwe this year. This information is shared with donors and implementing partners. We believe that, so long as there is no damage to the effectiveness of international humanitarian operations in Zimbabwe, the UN should also make this information available publicly. We and other donors are discussing this with the UN as part of the present review of the UN's Relief and Recovery Unit (RRU).
	Despite continual pressure from WFP, the Government has provided very little information about its own plans and activities in relation to food and grain distribution which it funds itself, distributed by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). The UN agencies do not have a formal role in monitoring the activities of the GMB, in which donor funding is not involved. However, some local non-Governmental Organisations do monitor food supplies, including those from GMB, and publish reports locally.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the scale of poppy production in Afghanistan in each year since 1996.

Jack Straw: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), conducts an annual survey into the level of opium cultivation and production in Afghanistan. Their figures since 1996 are as follows:
	
		
			  Hectares Tonnes 
		
		
			 1996 57,000 2,250  
			 1997 58,000 2,800  
			 1998 64,000 2,700  
			 1999 82,000 4,600  
			 2000 82,000 3,300  
			 2001 8,000 185  
			 2002 74,000 3,400  
			 2003 80,000 3,600  
		
	
	The UNODC figures for 2001 reflects the Taliban ban on opium cultivation. The ban did not however address the underlying causes of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and was enforced with a mix of serious violence and bribery.

Ali Salem Tamek

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Moroccan authorities on the imprisonment of Ali Salem Tamek.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 4 November 2003
	We have made no recent representations to the Moroccan authorities on the imprisonment of Ali Salem Tamek. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply my right hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mike O'Brien) gave him on 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 133W.

Argentine-British Council Meeting

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the recent Argentine-British Council meeting held in Argentina is endorsed by the Government as an official forum for discussing Anglo-Argentine relations; what support was provided by (a) the Government and (b) the British embassy in Buenos Aires for the meeting; and whether a Minister from his Department attended.

Jack Straw: holding answer 4 November 2003
	The Argentine-British Council (ABC) is a non-governmental organisation. The Government did not offer financial support for its recent meeting. Our ambassador in Buenos Aires held a reception at his residence for all ABC delegates. A member of our embassy attended a session of the meeting as an observer.

Morocco

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on the export of arms to Morocco, with specific reference to their use in the Western Sahara.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 4 November 2003
	Secretaries of State from the main Government Departments involved in export licensing are in regular contact with each other on the subject of specific export license decisions and broader export control policy matters. However, Morocco has not been raised recently in such contacts.

Convention on the Future of Europe

Gisela Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the Government's responses to the questionnaires issued by the Italian Presidency on the Intergovernmental Conference negotiations on the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Denis MacShane: Yes. I will place written responses in the Library of the House.

European Union Law

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 20 October 2003, reference 132935, what discussions he has had with EU institutions on the relationship of sections 2 and 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 and the jurisprudence to which he refers of the European Court of Justice since the case of Costa v. ENEL; and what assessment he has made of the judgments of the United Kingdom courts in (a) Macarthys Ltd. v. Smith and (b) Thorburn v. Sunderland City Council in relation to the principle that no provision of national law may be invoked to override Community law.

Denis MacShane: holding answer 3 November 2003
	The UK has given effect to its obligations under the EU treaties through the European Communities Act 1972. Costa v ENEL set out the clear principle that its obligations under the treaties cannot be overridden by domestic legal provisions.
	In Thorburn v. Sunderland City Council, Lord Justice Laws said as part of his judgment:
	"All the specific rights and obligations which EU law creates are by the 1972 Act incorporated into our domestic law and rank supreme . . .".
	The ultimate guarantee of parliamentary sovereignty lies in the power of Parliament to repeal all or any of the Acts which give effect to the EU treaties in this country. As Lord Denning made clear in the case of Macarthys Ltd. v. Smith, it is within Parliament's power to legislate contrary to the UK's treaty obligations. The result of so doing, however, would be to put the UK in breach of its treaty obligations.

European Union Law

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  if he will publish the evidence that underlay the claim by the UK's special representative to Iraq on 28 October that foreign terrorists were behind the bomb attacks in Iraq on 26 and 27 October;
	(2)  upon what evidence the claims made by the UK's special representative to Iraq that elements in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and further afield in the Islamic world are contributing to instability in Iraq were based, with particular reference to the bomb attacks on 26 and 27 October.

Jack Straw: We have received information from a wide range of sources about the infiltration of foreign extremists into Iraq. The bombings on 26–27 October are currently under investigation by the Iraq authorities and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). We do not know at this stage the identities of those responsible for these attacks, although as Sir Jeremy Greenstock said, the use of suicide bombers may indicate the involvement of foreign terrorists.

European Union Law

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions his Department has had with the Governments of (a) Iran, (b) Syria, (c) Afghanistan and (d) other Islamic countries regarding terrorists from those countries entering Iraq to participate in terrorist activities.

Jack Straw: We have discussed border security with all of Iraq's neighbours and urged them to tighten up security and border controls to deny terrorists access to Iraq.

European Union Law

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what additional steps the Government has taken to ensure the security of (a) British personnel and troops and (b) those working for international aid organisations in the south of Iraq since 26 October.

Jack Straw: Security measures are kept under constant review by UK commanders on the ground. The safety and security of all UK personnel is paramount. Force protection measures in place in southern Iraq are consistent with the current threat level. The Coalition offers security advice and assistance to aid workers wherever possible. However, international aid organisations are responsible for ensuring that adequate personal security arrangements are in place for their staff.

Nuclear Non-proliferation

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 12 May 2003, Official Report, column 85W, to the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith), on nuclear non-proliferation, what further actions his Department will pursue to implement the disarmament measures identified at the end of the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The United Kingdom fully supports the Final Document of the 2000 NPT Review Conference and the 13 practical steps towards disarmament that it identified. We intend to continue our close co-operation with other NPT members to strengthen the effectiveness of measures against nuclear proliferation.
	To that end, we will participate actively in the NPT review process, including the next Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) in April and May 2004 and the subsequent Review Conference in 2005. We will continue to provide reports at those meetings on our progress on all actions agreed in the 2000 Final Document. The UK is currently working on research into the verification of nuclear disarmament, and we will be presenting a second interim report on our studies at the next PrepCom. We intend to issue a consolidated report on this research at the 2005 Review Conference. This will contribute significantly towards one of the 13 practical steps towards disarmament identified in the Final Document of the 2000 Review Conference.

Nuclear Non-proliferation

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made since 11 September 2001 to the Israeli Government to persuade it (a) to sign and ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, (b) to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention and (c) to sign and ratify the Biological Weapons Convention.

Jack Straw: We have a regular dialogue with Israel on the full range of counter-proliferation issues as an integral part of our diplomatic relationship. This dialogue includes an annual senior official-level meeting specifically on the subject. The last such meeting took place in March this year, with the previous one having taken place in March 2002.

Oil and Gas Reserves

Robert Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the amendments the UK Government wish to see to the draft EU constitution where it impacts on Government policy for the exploitation of oil and gas reserves from the UK continental shelf. [R]

Denis MacShane: holding answer 30 October 2003
	Article III-130(2)(c) of the draft EU Constitutional Treaty, which is based on Article 175(2)(c) of the TEC, sets out the Union competence to adopt
	"measures significantly affecting a member state's choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply"
	by unanimity. Article III-157 of the draft EU Constitutional Treaty states the policy on energy shall aim to:
	(a) ensure the functioning of the energy market,
	(b) ensure security of energy supply in the Union, and
	(c) promote energy efficiency and saving and the development of new and renewable forms of energy and states that this policy shall not affect a member state's choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply.
	Under the Treaty establishing the European Community, there is already Union activity in energy matters. We believe there is a strong case for making the legal base for policy in this area more transparent.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Adoption

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  for what reasons adoptive parents are not entitled to the same financial assistance as biological parents;
	(2)  what plans she has to review the level of adoptive pay;
	(3)  what estimate she has made of the number of claims for adoptive leave made in each of the last three years.

Gerry Sutcliffe: New statutory rights to leave and pay for parents adopting a child came into effect on 6 April this year. Eligible employees are able to take up to 52 weeks adoption leave and receive Statutory Adoption Pay for up to 26 weeks paid at the same standard rate as Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)—£100 per week or 90 per cent. of average earnings if this is less than £100.
	SMP is paid for the first six weeks at 90 per cent. of average earnings. This reflects the legal requirement that women take a period of compulsory maternity leave following the birth of a child. This is for their health and safety and that of their child. Offering a higher rate of SMP for the first six weeks recognises this and helps mothers to take that time off.
	The adopter's partner may be able to benefit from the new rights to paternity leave and pay. Statutory Paternity Pay is paid at the same standard rate as SMP. This rate applies for all fathers, not just adoptive parents.
	We are already gathering evidence on how the new rights for adoptive parents are working in practice, as part of a wider monitoring strategy for all the new laws relating to working parents introduced in April 2003, and will continue to do so as an ongoing process. The Government will begin a review of the right to request flexible working in 2006 and we aim to look at how effective the other laws have been at the same time.
	The new rights have only been in place for seven months so as yet we do not have any figures on how many parents have taken adoption leave. However, it is estimated that in 2003 there will be 3,850 adoptions per year and we hope that most of these adopters will be able to benefit. We will be looking at the level of take up as part of our monitoring strategy.

Broadband

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she is taking to bring high speed broadband internet connections to those areas where British Telecom has deemed enablement of the telephone exchange unviable.

Stephen Timms: The Government intends spending £1 billion on broadband connectivity for the public sector between 2003–06. The Broadband Aggregation Project will set up 9 Regional Aggregation Bodies (RABs), which will aggregate and procure public sector demand for broadband. Each RAB will work closely with stakeholders in their region to develop an appropriate regional strategy that will offer best value for money and the widest availability to surrounding communities.
	Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are committed to improving the availability of broadband in their region and are involved in a range of regional and local partnerships with both the public and private sector. RDAs administer the £30 million UK Broadband Fund which carries out pilot projects, to build awareness and understanding of the benefits of broadband in areas which are not currently served by the market.
	A joint DTI/Defra Rural Broadband Team has been set up to address the issue of availability of broadband in rural areas. It aims to support local community action to secure affordable access to broadband, to ensure rural communities derive the maximum benefit from the deployment of broadband and promote rural access and take up of broadband to those in a position to effect positive change.

Competitiveness Council

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who will represent the Government at the EU Competitiveness Council of Ministers on 10 November.

Jacqui Smith: I will be representing the Government at the EU Competitiveness Council of Ministers on 10 November 2003.

Computer Viruses

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her most recent annual estimate is of the cost to UK business of virus infection of business computers and networks.

Stephen Timms: The DTI works with business to produce a biennial survey of Information Security Breaches, the latest of which was published in April 2002. The Survey is intended to raise awareness of the importance of effective information security management. The 2002 Survey did not set out to survey or measure the costs of specific security breaches such as virus infections, but surveyed the costs of all forms of information security breach. Based on the information gathered, the figures indicated that serious security incidents cost on average some £30, 000 per incident in 2001. The survey does not contain a figure for the total number of incidents. Work on the 2004 Survey is under way, and the results will be published in April 2004.

Consumer Credit

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to set maximum (a) charging structures and (b) interest rates for (i) personal loans, (ii) credit cards, (iii) store cards and (iv) sub-prime loans.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department has considered the issue of interest rate ceilings for the consumer credit market in the context of its review of the Consumer Credit Act. We are not persuaded of the case for introducing such ceilings. However, we have commissioned research into the way interest ceilings work in other EU countries.
	Proposals in these areas and others, will be included in the forthcoming Consumer Credit White Paper, due for publication in December.

Estate Agents

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) of 11 September, Official Report, column 390W, on estate agents, what information her Department collates on the number of estate agents and their regulation.

Gerry Sutcliffe: According to the Office for National Statistics in June 2003 there were 8480 estate agent enterprises eligible for VAT in the UK.
	The Estate Agents Act 1979 regulates the conduct of estate agents in the course of estate agency work. The Act gives the Director General of Fair Trading the power to issue warning or prohibition notices against those persons whom he considers to be unfit to carry on estate agency work.

Export Controls

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 16 September 2003, Official Report, column 705W, on export controls, whether she has examined the impact that the Government's proposals for export control will have on the safety of UK military personnel.

Nigel Griffiths: By strengthening the strategic export control regime, the new controls will reduce the risk that goods or technology exported from the UK, or goods brokered from the UK, or in certain circumstances goods brokered by UK persons anywhere in the world, could be used against UK armed forces.

Inward Investment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government are taking to promote inward investment in the United Kingdom.

Patricia Hewitt: The Government have expanded the inward investment function, home and overseas, within UK Trade & Investment (formerly Invest UK) to ensure that the UK maintains its place as the number one destination in Europe for inward investment in the EU. UK Trade & Investment works with the Regional Development Agencies and the development agencies of the Devolved Administrations to provide a tailored service to encourage inward investment.

Inward Investment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to promote the United Kingdom as a manufacturing base to foreign companies, with particular reference to the qualities of the workforce.

Patricia Hewitt: In promoting the UK as the top inward investment location in Europe, UK Trade and Investment (formerly Invest UK) focuses on value added investment including in manufacturing.
	UK Trade and Investment ensures that inward investors are aware of all the qualities the UK has to offer including our skilled and adaptable workforce.

Japan

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reason was for the postponement of the Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services' planned visit to Japan in November; and when it will now take place.

Stephen Timms: The build-up to the Japanese elections made it difficult to secure key ministerial meetings. The visit has therefore been postponed until early in 2004.

Loan Companies

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the practice of selling debts by loan companies to debt collection companies.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department has made no specific assessment of the practice of selling debts by loan companies to debt collection companies.
	Lenders and debt collectors require a licence from the Office of Fair Trading under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The OFT issued its "Debt collection guidance—Response to consultation paper and final guidance on unfair business practices" on 14 July 2003. The guidance specifies certain behaviour which OFT would consider in relation to taking licensing action. The guidance makes it clear that lenders must not ignore the unfair practices of debt collectors acting on their behalf, whether in-house or external. Lenders should take care in the selection of third parties, investigate complaints and take action where appropriate. Failure to do so will call their own fitness to hold a licence into question.
	The DTI is reaching the conclusion of its review of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Government proposals in this area will be set out in a White Paper due for publication in December. This will address issues such as the transparency of credit products, ensuring consumers are more aware of the terms and conditions of agreements they may wish to undertake.

Loan Companies

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  if she will take steps to make loan companies publish statements on their efforts to reduce harassment of clients whom they are pursuing for overdue loans;
	(2)  if she will take steps to restrict the (a) days and (b) times of day that debt collectors can contact people they are pursuing for overdue debts;
	(3)  if she will take steps to restrict the number of (a) letters, (b) phone calls and (c) face to face visits debt collectors can make to people they are pursuing for overdue debts;
	(4)  what recent discussions her Department has had with consumer groups about harassment of borrowers by debt collection companies.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The OFT issued guidance for debt collectors on 14 July 2003 which is aimed at all consumer credit licence holders and applicants and applies to the collection of debt once an account is in default. It sets out the type of behaviour, such as harassment of debtors, that the OFT, which administers the licensing system, considers to be unfair and which could call into question fitness to hold a licence.
	OFT guidance states it is an unfair business practice for a debt collector to be contacting debtors at unreasonable times and ignoring or disregarding debtors' legitimate wishes. Further to consultation on the guidance OFT decided not to prescribe specific times given debtors' differing circumstances.
	The practice of debt collectors when recovering overdue loans has been considered in the context of my Department's review of the Consumer Credit Act.
	The Consumer Credit White Paper that we will publish in December will outline our proposals to regulate the conduct of lenders and unfair credit agreements.

Microsoft (Licensing Fees)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was paid to Microsoft in licensing fees by her Department and its agencies in each of the last three years; and how much has been budgeted for (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05.

Patricia Hewitt: The provision of IT services for the Department of Trade and Industry is via a long term PFI contract with UNITAS, (a consortium of Fujitsu Services and Logica/CMG). Under this agreement all IT assets, hardware, software, (including Microsoft licensing fees), etc. are owned by UNITAS. Their provision and associated support are met through agreed bundled monthly service charges and it is not possible to identify specific costs for individual elements of these charges. The contract with UNITAS requires them to ensure that all software included as part of the services they provide to the Department are fully licensed with the appropriate supplier.

Miners' Compensation

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) interim and (b) full and final payments have been made to former miners suffering from (i) chronic bronchitis and emphysema and (ii) vibration white finger.

Nigel Griffiths: The figures as of 26 October 2003 are as follows:
	
		Interim and full and final payments made to former miners
		
			  COPD VWF 
		
		
			 Interim payments 69,753 85,366 
			 Full and final payments 85,735 75,648 
		
	
	Note
	Figures are readily available on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/coalhealth and updated monthly.

Office Plants Document

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of producing her Department's foliage strategy was; how many staff hours were spent on producing the document; and if she will make a statement.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 30 October 2003
	The only cost involved in producing the Department's so called "foliage strategy" was staff time at an internal cost of around £600. The strategy was an integral part of a procurement process to rationalise the contractual arrangements for provision of plant maintenance throughout the DTI buildings. The new contractual arrangements have resulted in overall savings of about £6,000 per annum.

Precious Metals

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, in the current EU Presidency working party discussions on the draft directive on articles of precious metal, she will propose that a high level of consumer protection secured by reliable third party verification should be a requisite in harmonised trade in such articles; and if she will make a statement on the stance adopted by other member states in the discussions.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government believe that a system of independent third party checks provides a high level of consumer protection and are opposed to any measures that would reduce such protection in the UK.
	Some member states have indicated support for the approach in the draft directive, while others have expressed reservations.

Precious Metals

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she is making to her counterparts in other EU member states to encourage them to support the view that harmonised trade in articles of precious metal should have a high level of consumer protection secured by reliable third party verification.

Gerry Sutcliffe: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has written to potentially sympathetic member states urging them not to support the draft directive.

Scottish Stamps

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to discuss with the Royal Mail the (a) promotion and (b) marketing of the Scottish definitive stamps.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 3 November 2003
	The stamp programme is an operational matter for Royal Mail Group plc, I have therefore asked the Chief Executive of Royal Mail to reply direct to my hon. Friend.

Television Reception (East Kent)

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made in negotiation with the French authorities towards agreed enhancement of South Coast television transmitters for those living in East Kent; and if she will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Negotiations are continuing. The Radiocommunications Agency is in regular discussion with its French counterpart about sharing spectrum for our respective analogue and digital TV coverage requirements. These negotiations are conditioned by internationally agreed arrangements, and spectrum planning methods, for determining equitable spectrum shares. The close proximity of the two countries and the heavy demand for frequencies on both sides of the Channel requires difficult and complicated technical discussions to maximise the use of spectrum in both countries in a way that minimises interference effects. In some cases, compromises are having to be made on both sides to deliver TV networks, such as mutual toleration of the risk of greater interference for longer periods than advised by the international planning rules.
	We are still in negotiation with the French authorities on acceptable channels and transmitter powers for digital TV from the Dover and Bluebell Hill stations in conjunction with the French requests for frequencies (and transmitter powers) for their own networks. Both sides are currently analysing the impact of each others' latest proposals and we hope to meet the French administration as soon as possible to take forward the discussions.

Trade Missions

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the Government's view of the benefits of trade missions.

Patricia Hewitt: Trade missions are a tried and tested mechanism providing a framework of support, both practical and financial, in which companies new, or relatively new, to the markets concerned can receive support to travel overseas to explore or assess the market or reinforce existing marketing efforts.
	The main benefits of participating in trade missions, apart from any financial support, are the raised profile of being seen as part of a UK group of companies; the opportunity to network and do business with fellow participants and the assistance, advice and knowledge provided by the mission organiser before the mission and during the visit.

Transport and Access

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints from British businesses her Department has received concerning transport and access issues in each of the last five years.

Nigel Griffiths: No such figures are available but the DTI is currently working on identifying optimal ways in which business's views on transport can be recorded and subsequently acted on.

CABINET OFFICE

Magistrates

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many magistrates there are under the age of (a) 30, (b) 35 and (c) 40 serving in Lancashire.

Douglas Alexander: At 31 March 2003 the available figures show that there were three magistrates under the age of 30 and 28 between the ages of 30 and 39 within the Lancashire Commission. A National Recruitment Strategy announced by the Lord Chancellor on 7 October will seek to find ways of recruiting younger magistrates and this will be actively promoted within the Duchy area.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Appeals

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) attendance allowance appeals, (b) disability living allowance appeals and (c) incapacity benefit (personal capability assessment) appeals there have been in each of the last three years.

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for Christina Townsend Chief Executive of the Appeals Service. She will reply to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Christina Townsend to Annabelle Ewing, dated 5 November 2003
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding the number of attendance allowance appeals, disability allowance appeals and incapacity benefit (personal capability assessment) appeals there have been in each of the last three years.
	The attached table shows the number of attendance allowance appeals, disability living allowance appeals and incapacity benefit (personal capability assessment) appeals which were received by the Appeals Service during the last three years.
	I hope this reply is helpful.
	
		Attendance allowance (AA), disability living allowance (DLA) and incapacity benefit (personal capability assessment) (IB(PCA)) appeals received by the Appeals Service.
		
			  Attendance allowance Disability living allowance Incapacity benefit 
			  Caseload as at28 February Received at Appeals Service Caseload as at28 February Received at Appeals Service Caseload as at28 February Received at Appeals Service 
		
		
			 April 2000-March 2001 1,279,000 14,875 2,210,600 106,405 2,324,400 41,835 
			 April 2001-March 2002 1,291,400 11,505 2,337,700 83,790 2,337,700 43,595 
			 April 2002-March 2003 1,333,400 10,300 2,387,900 81,735 2,387,900 54,140 
		
	
	Notes:
	All figures are subject to change as more up to date data becomes available. Figures for the latest months will rise as information feeds through to the Appeals Service.
	Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent. sample.
	Caseload notes:
	Caseloads are rounded to the nearest 100
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. sample

Benefit Appeals

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many times a tribunal has requested medical evidence from a general practitioner, consultant and other medical professional in support of (a) attendance allowance appeals (b) disability living allowance appeals and (c) incapacity benefit (personal capacity assessment) appeals in each of the last three years.

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for Christina Townsend Chief Executive of the Appeals Service. She will reply to the hon. Member.
	Letter from Christina Townsend to Annabelle Ewing, dated 5 November 2003
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question regarding how many times a tribunal has requested medical evidence from a general practitioner, consultant and other medical professional in support of attendance allowance appeals, disability living allowance appeals and incapacity benefit (personal capability assessment) appeals in each of the last three years.
	We do not have this information prior to April 2002 but the attached table shows the figures for the period April 2002-March 2003 and April 2003-September 2003.
	I hope this reply is helpful.
	
		Appeal tribunals for AA, DLA and IB (PCA) at which medical evidence has been requested
		
			 Number 
			  AA DLA IB (PCA) 
		
		
			 April 2002-March 2003 755 8,735 560 
			 April 2003-September 2003 370 4,580 350 
		
	
	Medical evidence requested at tribunal includes:
	Consultant Report, Existing Records
	Consultant Report, Fresh Examination
	Examining Medical Practitioner Attendance Allowance
	Examining Medical Practitioner Care and Mobility
	Examining Medical Practitioner Care only
	Examining Medical Practitioner Mobility only
	General Practitioners Factual
	General Practitioners Specialist
	Hospital Case Notes/Extract From DEC
	Hospital Case Notes (Direct to Hospital)
	Hospital Factual Report
	Obtain Fresh X-Rays
	Notes:
	All figures are subject to change as more up to date data becomes available. Figures for the latest months will rise as information feeds through to the Appeals Service.
	Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, 100% sample.

Fraud

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the level of council tax benefit fraud in the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Pond: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (John Barrett) on 16 July 2003, Official Report, column 432W.

New Deal

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many Employment Service personal advisers have been recruited under the New Deal programme since 1997.

Malcolm Wicks: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, David Anderson. He will write to the hon. Member.
	Letter from David Anderson to Mr. Nick Gibb, dated 5 November 2003
	As Jobcentre Plus is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question concerning how many Employment Service personal advisers have been recruited under the New Deal programme since 1997. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Agency.
	In line with the Departments policy, Jobcentre Plus recruits people under the Employment Option of the New Deal into the Administrative Assistant or Administrative Officer grades. As Personal Adviser posts are graded at the Executive Officer grade we would not recruit for these posts under the New Deal programme.
	However, people on the New Deal caseload can apply for any posts advertised externally by Jobcentre Plus which would include grades at the Executive Officer level. People recruited using this method would not be classed as one of our New Deal employees.
	I hope this is helpful.

New Deal

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of the New Deal for Communities since 1998 in (a) St. Helens, South, (b) Merseyside and (c) the north west region on (i) reducing crime, (ii) creating jobs and (iii) raising standards in education.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	(a) There are no New Deal for Communities (NDC) Partnerships in St. Helens, South.
	(b) and (c) There are two NDC Partnerships in Merseyside—Liverpool (Kensington) and Knowsley (North Huyton). There are six partnerships in the north west region. These include the two Merseyside Partnerships and those in Manchester (Beswick and Openshaw), Oldham (Hathershaw and Fitton Hill), Rochdale (Heywood) and Salford (Central).
	The NDC programme is scrutinised and reviewed using two, complementary and linked streams of work:
	a performance management system, which drives annual and mid-year reviews, lead by the Government Offices for the Regions;
	the NDC National Evaluation, providing external assessment at partnership, programme and theme level, lead by Sheffield Hallam University.
	The performance management system was introduced in 2003 and used for the first time for the 2002–03 annual reviews. Partnerships reviewed their own performance and the results that they are starting to achieve.
	The evidence provided in these reviews by the NDC Partnerships show that partnerships in the Merseyside and the north west are beginning to make an impact in reducing crime, creating jobs and raising standards in education. For example:
	In the Kensington area of Liverpool, the rate of all recorded offences has fallen from 185.3 instances per 1,000 population before the NDC, to 148.8 in 2002–03.
	In Salford, the gap between the proportion of pupils getting five or more GCSEs at grades A to C narrowed from 12 per cent. to 8 per cent. in 2002–03.
	In east Manchester, the percentage of the working age population who are in employment has risen from 52 per cent.to 65 per cent., which exceeded the city average in 2002–03.
	Alongside this evidence from partnerships themselves, data from the national NDC evaluation about the progress NDC Partnerships are making towards achieving their outcome targets is now beginning to come through. An overview of the latest position was recently published in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Research Report 7 "New Deal for Communities: The National Evaluation: Annual Report 2002–03". Copies are available in the Library of the House.

New Deal

Shaun Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proposals he has to (a) continue and (b) develop New Deal for Communities schemes in (i) St. Helens, South, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the north west region.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	(a) There are currently no New Deal for Communities (NDC) Partnerships in St. Helens, South. There are no plans to develop any NDC Partnerships in the St. Helens south area.
	(b) There are two NDC Partnerships in Merseyside—one in Liverpool (Kensington) and one in Knowlsey (north Huyton). These partnerships have both been awarded a grant to spend over a ten year time period, and so the Liverpool Partnership will continue until 2009–10 and the Knowsley Partnership until 2010–11. There are no plans to develop any further NDC Partnerships in Merseyside.
	(c) There are six NDC Partnerships in the north west, these include the two mentioned in part (b) of this answer and also partnerships in Oldham (Hathershaw and Fitton Hill), Rochdale (Heywood), east Manchester (Beswick and Openshaw) and Salford (Central). The Manchester Partnership will continue until 2009–10 and the Oldham, Rochdale and Salford Partnerships until 2010–11. There are no plans to develop any further NDC Partnerships in the north west.

Pension Advice Surgeries

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Answer of 12 October 2003, Official Report, column 206W, on pension advice surgeries, if he will break down the number of regular drop-in and appointment surgeries by region.

Malcolm Wicks: The break down of regular drop-in and appointment surgeries by region is detailed in the table. These surgeries are under constant review with regard to suitability of location, publicity and level of usage. This will enable us to continue to provide a modern delivery that is based on the needs of older people and takes account of their views about how they want to access our services.
	
		
			 GOR Appointment only surgeries Drop-in only surgeries Appointment and Drop-in Total 
		
		
			 Scotland 5 41 128 174 
			 North West 30 24 230 284 
			 North East & Humberside 66 45 141 252 
			 South East 27 154 171 352 
			 South West 36 78 101 215 
			 Wales 27 132 64 223 
			 East Midlands 12 97 397 506 
			 West Midlands 17 104 164 285 
			 London 40 112 76 228 
			 Total2,519

Pension Credit

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the take-up rate for the pension credit is in each constituency; and how many people are (a) eligible for and (b) claiming pension credit, broken down by constituency.

Des Browne: The information is not available in the format requested. Approximately half of all pensioner households across Great Britain are eligible for Pension Credit and stand to gain on average £400 a year. Around 1.9 million Pension Credit awards have already been made to pensioner households across Great Britain as a whole (helping more than 2 million individuals).
	The Government have a target for at least 3 million pensioner households to be in receipt of Pension Credit by 2006. We want all those eligible for Pension Credit to take up their entitlement.
	We intend to publish monthly reports on the progress of Pension Credit take-on, which will include information on the number of applications. The first such report will be published later this month.

Pensions

Candy Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures the Government plans to introduce to regulate contribution holidays by occupational pension schemes.

Malcolm Wicks: Government proposals for regulating occupational pension schemes are set out in the documents "Simplifying the taxation of pensions: increasing choice and flexibility for all" (December 2002) and "Working and Saving for Retirement: Action on Occupational Pensions" (June 2003) Cm 5835. These do not contain specific proposals regarding contribution holidays. However, our proposed simplified tax regime for approved pension schemes would abolish the rules that currently require approved occupational pension schemes to run off their surplus funds or lose their full tax exempt status.
	We also propose to replace the Minimum Funding Requirement, now widely regarded as inadequate, with scheme-specific funding arrangements intended to ensure that the level of contributions is sufficient to meet a scheme's long-term pension commitments. Trustees and employers, with the scheme actuary's advice, will develop and agree the funding strategy for their scheme in line with this objective.

SchlumbergerSema Doctors

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time spent by SchlumbergerSema doctors on an individual personal capability assessment was in each year since 1997 (a) broken down by region and (b) in the UK as a whole; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Doctors are encouraged to spend as long as required to carry out an appropriate assessment. Some types of disabling conditions will take longer than others to assess, depending on the nature of the disability .
	The available information is in the table.
	
		Average time taken (in minutes) to complete the personal capability assessment
		
			 Region 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 East Midlands 39.0 41.2 39.2 37.7 
			 Eastern 40.0 40.0 37.4 37.6 
			 London 38.8 37.5 33.7 36.6 
			 North East 35.9 32.9 32.4 34.8 
			 North West 38.1 36.3 32.8 33.2 
			 Scotland 39.8 38.8 37.2 39.5 
			 South East 37.6 36.9 34.4 35.6 
			 South West 37.7 36.3 35.3 38.0 
			 Wales 35.5 34.5 33.9 35.6 
			 West Midlands 40.7 41.0 38.4 37.4 
			 Yorks & Number 34.2 35.7 36.0 35.9 
			 National 37.8 37.1 35.2 36.3 
		
	
	Notes:
	The information requested is not available for the period 1997 to 1999
	The timings given in the above table relate to the average time the doctors spend interviewing and assessing the customer and completing the report.
	Source:
	SchlumbergerSema

Winter Fuel Payment (Wansdyke)

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate (a) how many people in Wansdyke constituency are eligible for the winter fuel payment in 2003–04 and (b) how many people in Wansdyke constituency received it in 2002–03.

Malcolm Wicks: The information is not available in the format requested. However, such information as is available is as follows.
	The number of people in Wansdyke parliamentary constituency who received a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2002–03 was 19,940 made up of 8,965 men and 10,975 women. We expect similar figures for 2003–04.
	Notes:
	1. Figures are taken from the Matching Intelligence Data Analysis Service Winter
	Fuels Payment 2002/03 exercise 100 per cent. data
	2. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.
	Source:
	IAD Information Centre, 100 per cent. sample.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Child Poverty

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what action he is taking to tackle the problem of children living in substandard housing conditions as part of the target to eliminate child poverty.

Keith Hill: The Government are very aware of the links between housing conditions, health and poverty. Children of low income parents (those on means tested benefit) are more likely (38 per cent. of such households, 760,000 households in all) to live in homes that do not meet the decent home standard than other children (25 per cent.).
	That is why the Government are committed to making all social housing decent by 2010 and has made a long-term commitment to eliminate child poverty by 2020. Improving sub-standard housing conditions is an integral part of the Government's child poverty strategy.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister target is that by 2010 all social housing will be made decent and that 210,000 more households will be supported to ensure their homes are made decent. Good progress has already been made—between 1997 and 2001, nearly half a million the numbers of non-decent social sector homes have been reduced. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also helped around 120,000 vulnerable households in the private sector to make their homes decent.
	In March 2003 the draft Housing Bill was published. It includes the following proposals that will benefit poor and vulnerable households by targeting housing condition problems which will in turn address child poverty issues:
	Housing Health and Safety Rating System—this new system will target health and safety hazards in the home and provide a better basis for enforcement. It will replace the current Fitness Standard.
	Licensing of higher-risk Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs)—These house some of the most vulnerable people. The definition includes Bread and Breakfast (B&B) accommodation for homeless families. This mandatory national licensing scheme will improve controls on about 120,000 HMOs, to improve basic facilities and management standards.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also set a target to end, by March 2004, the use of B&B accommodation for families with children except in emergencies, and then for no longer than six weeks. The Government are considering making it unlawful for local authorities to exceed this six-week deadline, and hopes to make an announcement by the end of this year.

Council Housing Stock

Dennis Skinner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average level of council tax is for (a) those councils that have transferred council housing stock and (b) those councils that have maintained control of council stock.

Keith Hill: Tabled as follows is (a) the average Band D council tax for 2003–04 for those authorities that have completed Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVTs) of housing, and (b) the average Band D Council Tax for 2003–04 for those authorities that have not completed a LSVT.
	An LSVT is defined as the transfer of more than 499 properties to a single Registered Social Landlord. No data are available for smaller transfers of housing stock.
	
		Average Band D council tax 2003–04 -- £
		
			  Authorities completing a LSVT Authorities not completing a LSVT Total 
		
		
			 Inner London boroughs 824 636 718 
			 Outer London boroughs 899 902 901 
			 Metropolitan districts 988 960 671 
			 Unitary authorities 946 961 958 
			 Shire districts 147 155 151

Diabetics

David Atkinson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will issue guidance under planning provision that encourages major stores, high street restaurants and other appropriate retail outlets to provide private rooms for diabetics to inject insulin; and if he will make a statement.

Keith Hill: The internal arrangement of shops and restaurants, including customer facilities such as toilets and baby changing facilities, are not planning matters. Although some facilities for customers are required under other legislation, most are provided by retailers as a customer service.

Domestic Violence

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement about the progress of the Government's domestic violence helpline.

Yvette Cooper: The development of the single freephone Helpline for victims of domestic violence is making good progress. The Government and Comic Relief are providing funding. However, it will not be a Government help-line as it will be owned and run by two independent charities.
	A further statement will be made as soon as the launch date of the project is known.

Housing Market Renewal (West Yorkshire)

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to provide resources for housing market renewal in West Yorkshire.

Keith Hill: The Regional Housing Board for Yorkshire and the Humber has identified £16 million over two years to kick-start a West Yorkshire Low Demand Project, in addition to the needs-based allocation that all local authorities will receive. In 2004–05, West and South Yorkshire will also be sharing £2 million of the £6 million identified for innovative approaches to private sector renewal in Yorkshire and the Humber, with bids from all sub-regions for the remaining £4 million to be invited early next year. The board will also allocate £10 million for 2005–06 for transformational projects that meet the region's priorities, which include regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.
	There are no current plans for further Market Renewal Pathfinders. The evidence for further pathfinders will be considered within the context and constraints of the 2004 Spending Review.

Investigatory Powers

Brian White: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what statutory investigatory powers his Department has; which ones will be superseded by use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and what plans he has for removing these legacy powers.

Yvette Cooper: A full list of existing statutory investigatory powers for which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has responsibility is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate costs. But in any event, no such powers are superseded by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: generally speaking, existing powers make provision relating to compelling production of information (subject to various safeguards) in different contexts and in a wide variety of statutory regimes. Such existing statutory powers could not be used to compel disclosure of communications data in the sense for which the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 provides. Accordingly there are no plans to repeal any such powers in consequence of that Act.

Local Government Finance

David Wright: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how much additional grant support has been received by Telford and Wrekin Council annually since its creation as a unitary authority;
	(2)  what annual percentage increase in grant support has been made available to Telford and Wrekin Council since its creation as a unitary authority.

Nick Raynsford: Total grant for Telford and the Wrekin Council since its creation as a unitary authority is shown in the table.
	
		£ million
		
			  1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2003–03(7) 2003–04(7) 
		
		
			 Total Grant(8) 92.6 99.9 108.6 116.8 122.9 140.9 
			 Increase on previous year — 7.4 8.6 8.2 6.1 18.1 
			 Percentage increase on previous year — 8.0 8.6 7.6 5.2 14.7 
			 Percentage cumulative increase on previous year — 8.0 17.3 26.2 32.7 52.2 
		
	
	(7) Budgeted figures
	(8) Includes Revenue Support Grant, Redistributed Non-Domestic Rates and Special and Specific Grants inside AEF.
	Note
	Increases between years may not be on a comparable like for like basis due to changes in responsibilities.
	Source
	1998–99 to 2001–02 Revenue Summary Returns and 2002–03 to 2003–04 Budget Estimate Returns.

Regional Assemblies

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public money he estimates will be spent by both sides of the campaign on the forthcoming regional assembly referendums.

Phil Hope: Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, organisations can apply to the Electoral Commission to become the lead campaign body for one of the referendum outcomes. The Electoral Commission is currently considering the appropriate level of grant to award to these designated organisations.

Street Wardens

Anne Campbell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the sources of funding are for street wardens in Cambridgeshire; and how much funding is being received from each source in 2003–04.

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister funds three street warden schemes in Cambridgeshire, based in Cambridge, Huntingdon and Peterborough, all of which are match funded by local authorities. The Cambridge scheme has an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister grant of £54,250 for 2003–04, which is match funded by Cambridge city council. The Huntingdon scheme has an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister grant of £64,484, match funded by Huntingdon district council and the Peterborough scheme has an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister grant of £94,691, match funded by Peterborough county council. This represents a total of £426,850 to fund street wardens in Cambridgeshire in 2003–04.

Tollington Estate

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what expenditure there has been on the preparation for the sale of the Tollington Estate in Islington by the North British Housing Association and its subsidiaries; and how much of this was funded by (a) local authority, (b) Housing Corporation and (c) re-generation funds.

Keith Hill: The North British Housing Association (NBH) has spent £590,000 to ensure effective resident involvement and consultation in the development of proposals for the stock transfer of the Tollington Estates from Islington council to NBH. This has involved extensive resident involvement in the preparation of the masterplan for the estates, the provision of an estate based office to provide an accessible information point for residents and the production and circulation of newsletters to everyone living on the estates.
	This sum has been funded internally within NBH. There has been no financial support to NBH from other bodies.

HEALTH

"A Vision for Pharmacy"

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in implementing "A Vision for Pharmacy".

Rosie Winterton: "A Vision for Pharmacy", published on 17 July 2003, builds on a programme to develop national health service pharmacy services set out in "Pharmacy in the Future", published in September 2000. The consultation paper highlights the significant progress made in the past three years in delivering important changes in the way pharmacy services are delivered. Consultation on "A Vision for Pharmacy" ended on 17 October and details of the wide-ranging responses received will be published by the end of the year. These are currently being analysed and will help inform and shape further action to deliver improved patient choice and access to a range of high quality pharmacy services.

Accident and Emergency Services

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients admitted to accident and emergency departments in London in each quarter of each of the last four years waited for more than 12 hours before being treated or transferred to a ward.

John Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally. However, data on total time spent in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge has been collected and routinely published since July 2002. This information is available on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/hospitalactivitv.

Asian People's Disability Association

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to enable the Asian People's Disability Association to remain in the offices which they now occupy in the Central Middlesex Hospital, Park Royal, (a) during and (b) after the rebuilding programme.

John Hutton: This is a local matter and I understand that health and social services have been working together to find suitable alternative accommodation for the Asian People's Disability Association and that these negotiations are on-going locally.

Avon, Gloucestershire and WiltshireStrategic Health Authority

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much debt was inherited by the Avon-Gloucestershire-Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority on its formation; how much of this debt was inherited from (a) Royal United Hospitals, Bath, (b) United Bristol Health Care and (c) North Bristol Health Trusts; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer on 30 October 2003
	Strategic health authorities (SHAs) were established in 2002–03. Information in respect of inherited balances can be obtained from the chief executive of Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA. The information is not available centrally.

Bechtel

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list contracts for consultancy or work carried out by Bechtel in each year since 1997 stating in each case (a) the nature of the work, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the duration of the contract; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: holding answer 28 October 2003
	No contracts for consultancy or other works have been awarded to Bechtel since 1997.

Cancer Research UK

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding has been allocated to Cancer Research UK in 2003–04; and for which projects.

Melanie Johnson: The Department has provided £2.6 million to Cancer Research UK to fund their 'Death Repackaged' campaign. This awareness raising campaign was launched in September 2003, to highlight the dangers of terms 'light' and 'mild' on cigarette packs.
	The Department does not allocate funds directly to charities for research. We spent an estimated £83.8 million on cancer research in 2000–01. Over 75 per cent. of this expenditure is devolved to the national health service, largely to meet the additional patient care costs associated with research. These costs cover items such as extra scans for diagnosis or monitoring of treatment, extra blood tests, extra in-patient days and extra nursing attention. This support allows work funded by the research councils and charities, including Cancer Research UK, to be conducted within the NHS.

Private Finance Initiative

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost of PFI-based capital investment in the NHS in London has been since 1997; and what revenue costs were incurred on an annual basis to service the financing facilities.

John Hutton: For private finance initiative (PFI) schemes with a capital value greater than £10 million, the total capital cost of PFI-based investment in the four new London strategic health authorities since 1997 is £975,900,000. The capital value of PFI schemes is defined as: total capital cost to the private sector including the costs of land, construction, equipment and professional fees but excluding value added tax, rolled up interest and financing costs. As PFI procures a service, rather than the underlying asset, capital values are necessarily estimates.
	Unitary payments on a PFI scheme—paid for from a trust's general revenue allocations—include elements for 'hard' and 'soft' facilities management services as well as financing costs. A partial breakdown of the unitary costs for schemes with a capital value exceeding £20 million is held centrally. This shows the split between 'availability' and 'services' where 'availability' includes costs attributable to 'hard' facilities management and financing, but does not distinguish further. To collect this information would mean reviewing the financial models for all these schemes which would incur disproportionate costs.
	Unitary payments on PFI schemes become payable when the scheme becomes operational. The first to do so was Queen Mary's hospital, Sidcup, which took its first patient at the end of March 2000; the most recent to open was St. George's in September 2003.
	
		Total unitary payments for PFI schemes which have reached financial close since 1997 in the four new London strategic health authorities
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 2000–01 32,848 
			 2001–02 51,813 
			 2002–03 60,000 
			 2003–04 (to date) 94,900

Care Homes

Kerry Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to assist care homes in adapting premises to meet the new size requirements for residents' rooms.

Stephen Ladyman: National minimum standards relating to room sizes in pre-existing care homes (that is, a care home which existed before April 2002) were relaxed in June 2003. The change means that pre-existing care homes which do not already meet certain of the standards introduced in April 2002 will no longer be expected to make physical changes to the home to do so.
	The Government has no plans to provide direct financial assistance to care homes to meet any of the standards. Care homes are independent businesses and any changes to meet standards should be viewed as 'upgrading' the service being provided. Providers will be able to detail the facilities they offer in their prospectuses, so that those purchasing or using the services can make an informed choice.

Care Payments

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to encourage local authorities to make available direct payments for care.

Stephen Ladyman: From 8 April 2003, there has been a duty placed on local councils to make direct payments to those who choose to receive them. The Government have also established the direct payments development fund. This will provide £9 million over three years to national, regional and local voluntary organisations in partnership with local councils. This is a substantial investment in direct payments support services, key to improving access to direct payments. Increasing the take up of direct payments will contribute to the overall assessment of each council's performance that is made each year.

Clinical Trials

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will amend the draft Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2003 to ensure that non-commercial publicly or charitably-funded drug development work will not come under the same regulatory framework as commercially-funded trials.

Rosie Winterton: The European Directive on the conduct of clinical trials was adopted in February 2001. The main aim of the Directive is to simplify and harmonise procedures across the Community while ensuring the protection of trial subjects and providing a safe environment for the development of new medicines. member states are required to fully implement the Directive by 1 May 2004.
	The scope of the Directive is wide and the United Kingdom Regulations will apply to all clinical trials on medicinal products for human use conducted in the UK, including academic and healthy volunteer studies, with the exception of non-interventional trials.
	Because the Directive makes no distinction between commercial and non-commercial publicly or charitably funded clinical trials, they cannot be treated differently in the UK implementing regulations. However those drafting the Directive recognised the special position of non-commercial trials conducted by researchers without the participation of the pharmaceutical industry. The Government has taken steps to attempt to influence the Commission in its consideration of a Commission Directive on good clinical practice and also in reviewing guidance that the Commission published earlier this year with a view to avoiding any unnecessary regulatory requirements and costs.
	In responding to concerns, and to provide an environment in which patients are protected but high quality research is not inhibited, my noble Friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, invited the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Academy of Medical Sciences to co-ordinate a report on the impact of the Directive on academic studies. The impact assessment, prepared by the MRC with the active support of others including Cancer Research UK, the National Co-ordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment and a number of academic experts formed the basis for a response to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) consultation on the draft regulations to implement the Directive into UK law earlier this year.
	The MHRA is giving careful consideration to legislation and guidance linked to these issues. For example, they are considering the acceptability of different approaches to monitoring the validity of trial data that are less labour intensive and expensive than those usually used in commercial trials. The aim is the use of appropriate quality systems proportionate to risk (thereby minimising increases in costs). A list of responses to frequently asked questions are published on the MHRA website at www.mhra.gov in the Clinical Trials Directive pages, which will be kept updated.
	In another initiative, the Department and the MRC have announced a joint project to work with experts to find practical solutions to the issues identified in the impact assessment. Details of the project can be found on www.ncchta.org/eudirective/index.asp.
	With our careful exploration of the impact on publicly-funded research and organisations that support it and delays in the Commission finalising the GCP Directive and other guidance, the United Kingdom's implementing regulations are not expected to be made until early in 2004.

Dental Devices (Outsourcing)

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans his Department has to outsource custom-made dental devices to (a) Turkey, (b) Hungary, (c) China and (d) the Philippines.

Rosie Winterton: Custom-made dental appliances are manufactured to the written prescription of the dentist responsible for the case in question. The choice of manufacturing laboratory is a matter for local decision. All dental laboratories in the European Union are registered with the competent authority, which in the United Kingdom is the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
	Manufacturers of custom made appliances from outside the European Union are required to designate an authorised representative within the European Union, who must register with the competent authority where they have their registered place of business. The manufacturer must meet the relevant requirements of the Medical Devices Directive (93/42/EEC) and must meet the same standards as devices manufactured within the European Union.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of Standard Three of the National Standards Framework for Diabetes; and if he will make a statement; [R]
	(2)  how his Department assists primary care trusts to meet Standard Three of the National Standard Framework for Diabetes; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Rosie Winterton: "The New NHS and A First Class Service" introduced a range of measures to raise quality and decrease variations in service including national service frameworks (NSFs).
	The NHS Plan re-emphasised the role of NSFs as drivers in delivering the modernisation agenda. NSFs are one element of the overall programme of modernisation. They are designed to help us to improve health and social well-being by:
	providing services to more people, more quickly and to a higher standard;
	improving the patient experience;
	reducing variations in care across the country;
	increasing compliance with evidence-based practice.
	NSFs have challenging aims (the vision) for a particular service or care group. Ways to achieve those aims are described in a number of standards, focused as far as possible on the needs of patients and good outcomes, underpinned by:
	the rationale and a clear statement of the evidence base;
	good practice: key interventions and service models which have worked in practice (linked, wherever possible, to Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) work and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and appraisals);
	performance indicators to measure local and national progress.
	Standard 3 of the diabetes national service framework is about patient empowerment. All people with diabetes will receive a service that encourages partnership in decision-making and supports them in managing their diabetes.
	This is reflected in the "Planning and Priorities Framework for the NHS 2003–06", which includes targets for the diabetes NSF. One such target states the need for primary care trusts to update practice-based registers for people with diabetes by March 2006. This will help to ensure that they receive systematic treatment regimens and advice to help support them in managing their own condition.
	The above gives clinicians and other professionals, managers and service users the information and guidance they need to drive forward improvements locally . NSFs will be implemented and monitored in the same way as departmental policy generally, allowing maximum scope for local flexibility. The implementation/monitoring regime will differ from NSF to NSF. Essential elements include:
	implementation guides covering, as appropriate, national actions to support local delivery through a number of underpinning programmes, such as workforce development and research and development;
	national and local champions who will drive forward delivery of the standards with clinical colleagues and others;
	national and local performance indicators to help strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and local councils to benchmark progress;
	the Commission for Health Improvement using national standards to inspect and evaluate services;
	empowered patients and users using standards to feedback on local services;
	patients forums and other similar consultative groups identifying where services could be improved;
	the Modernisation Agency, NICE, SCIE and the Improvement and Development Agency to promulgate, spread and support best practice.

Dysphasia

Patsy Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which primary care trusts support a dysphasia service; and which of these have received external funding.

John Hutton: Most, if not all, primary care trusts will either directly provide or will commission services for people suffering from dysphasia. Such services may not necessarily be separately identified as dysphasia services but may form part of the service provided by speech and language therapy departments. Information is not available in sufficient detail centrally to show whether particular dysphasia services have received external funding.

Epidermolysis Bullosa

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provision he is making for people suffering from epidermolysis bullosa; if he will meet representatives from the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Agency; and if he will make a statement about epidermolysis bullosa.

Stephen Ladyman: Patients with this condition are able to access the normal range of national health service services.
	I will certainly consider any request to meet representatives of the Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Research Agency.

Essex Ambulance Service

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time ambulance paramedics were employed by the Essex Ambulance Service on 1 September 2003.

Rosie Winterton: Published figures are not yet available for September 2003. As at 30 September 2002, there were 210 full-time ambulance paramedics employed by the Essex Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust. In addition, a further 23 were employed on a part-time basis, giving a total whole-time equivalent of 220.
	Source:
	Department of Health Non-Medical Workforce Census.

General Practitioners

Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the additional cost to the NHS of providing out of hours treatment following acceptance of the new GPs' contract.

John Hutton: This is a matter for local decision and depending on how services are reconfigured. We are making available an extra £138 million from 2003–04 to 2005–06 to support these changes. These resources are in addition to the average of £6,000 released by each general practitioner who opts out of his/her responsibility for out-of-hours services.

General Practitioners

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of (a) adults, (b) children and (c) the total population are registered with a general practitioner in (i) England, (ii) each region and (iii) each strategic health authority.

John Hutton: At 30 September 2002 (the latest published data), 51,522,391 people were recorded as registered with a general practitioner or provider of personal medical services. The table provides details by strategic health authority (SHA). It is not possible to express these figures accurately as a percentage of total population as the phenomenon of "list inflation" means that registered populations are typically larger than actual populations. This phenomenon arises where a patient moves his or her registration and for a transitional period may be registered on two lists. Similarly, an individual who dies or moves abroad may remain on a list for a time.
	
		Patients England of Unrestricted Principals and Equivalents (UPEs)(9) by strategic health authority in as at 30 September 2002 -- Number (headcount)
		
			 SHA code SHA name All patients Under 16 16 and over 
		
		
			 Q01 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire 2,177,943 402,226 1,775,717 
			 Q02 Bedford and Hertfordshire 1,690,454 342,940 1,347,514 
			 Q03 Essex 1,646,695 320,293 1,326,402 
			 Q04 North West London 2,040,719 351,554 1,689,165 
			 Q05 North Central London 1,394,454 249,041 1,145,413 
			 Q06 North East London 1,647,642 352,690 1,294,952 
			 Q07 South East London 1,629,989 311,813 1,318,176 
			 Q08 South West London 1,409,652 256,397 1,153,255 
			 Q09 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear 1,428,122 262,895 1,165,227 
			 Q10 County Durham and Tees Valley 1,166,109 226,726 939,383 
			 Q11 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire 1,671,717 315,685 1,356,032 
			 Q12 West Yorkshire 2,175,033 435,650 1,739,383 
			 Q13 Cumbria and Lancashire 1,943,598 375,381 1,568,217 
			 Q14 Greater Manchester 2,662,307 538,021 2,124,286 
			 Q15 Cheshire and Merseyside 2,440,943 472,683 1,968,260 
			 Q16 Thames Valley 2,284,737 448,969 1,835,768 
			 Q17 Hampshire and Isle of Wight 1,790,410 340,689 1,449,721 
			 Q18 Kent and Medway 1,608,226 322,293 1,285,933 
			 Q19 Surrey and Sussex 2,650,943 481,421 2,169,522 
			 Q20 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 2,227,736 423,386 1,804,350 
			 Q21 South West Peninsula 1,610,145 286,706 1,323,439 
			 Q22 Somerset and Dorset 1,181,982 211,154 970,828 
			 Q23 South Yorkshire 1,348,408 261,130 1,087,278 
			 Q24 Trent 2,621,590 495,018 2,126,572 
			 Q25 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland 1,568,323 311,591 1,256,732 
			 Q26 Shropshire and Staffordshire 1,494,796 286,852 1,207,944 
			 Q27 Birmingham and the Black Country 2,436,973 505,083 1,931,890 
			 Q28 Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcs 1,572,745 298,861 1,273,884 
			  England total 51,522,391 9,887,148 41,635,243 
		
	
	(9) UPEs include CMS unrestricted principals, PMS Salaried and PMS Contracted GPs.
	Source:
	Department of Health General and Personal Medical Services Statistics.

Health Care-associated Infection

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the first quarter results of the second phase of the mandatory surveillance scheme for health care-associated infection to be published.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 27 October 2003
	Collection of data for the second phase of the mandatory surveillance scheme began this autumn, with publication expected to start next summer. Quarterly reporting may not be appropriate for all data.

Care Homes (Somerset)

Adrian Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) residential care home and (b) nursing home places were available in Somerset in each year since 1997, broken down into places available at (i) local authority-run homes, (ii) independent private homes and (iii) homes run by independent charities and other not-for-profit organisations.

Stephen Ladyman: The table shows the number of care home places by type of accommodation available in Somerset as at 31 March for the years 1997 to 2001.
	Figures for later years have been collected by the National Care Standards Commission but comparable details broken down by local authority are not available.
	
		
			  Residential homes Nursing homes 
			  Local authority Private Voluntary Small(10) Independent 
		
		
			 Somerset 
			 1997 365 2,265 370 380 2,575 
			 1998 350 2,995 350 (11)— 2,830 
			 1999 165 3,000 425 445 2,870 
			 2000 190 3,095 395 420 2,825 
			 2001 195 3,065 395 450 2,580 
		
	
	(10) Not available.
	(11) Independent registered care homes with less than four places.
	Source
	KO36, RA and RH(N) FORM A.

Hospital Appointments

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 13 October 2003, Official Report, column 57W, what information he holds on the proportion of hospital appointments which were pre-booked at the start of 2000–01.

John Hutton: Information on the proportion of hospital appointments pre-booked at the start of 2000–01 was not collected centrally.

Immunisation

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list coverage rates of immunisations which are given to school age children and infants.

Melanie Johnson: Information about the childhood immunisation programme, which includes children immunised by their second birthday, and from 1999–2000 by their fifth birthday, is derived from the COVER (Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly) system and collected by the Health Protection Agency.
	Information about numbers of immunisations of older school children is collected by the Department of Health from service providers and does not allow for the calculation of coverage rates because appropriate population denominators are not available.
	Information about childhood immunisations from both the sources mentioned is published annually in Departmental statistical bulletins. The latest bulletin, "NHS Immunisation Statistics, England: 2002–03", is available in the Library and on the Department's website at www.doh.gov.uk/public/sb0316.htm.

Intrathecal Analgesic Pumps

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the frequency was in 2002–03 of the fitting of intrathecal analgesic (Isomed) pumps to patients in Gloucestershire; what the cost of each operation was; what the (a) length of the waiting list and (b) average times spent waiting for such an operation were; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 28 October 2003
	The information requested is not collected centrally.

Long-term Care

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) nursing and (b) residential care places for the (i) elderly, (ii) chronically ill and (iii) physically disabled there were in London for each of the last five years, broken down by London borough.

Stephen Ladyman: holding answer 29 October 2003
	Information on the number of nursing care places for older people aged 65 or over and younger physically disabled people aged 18 to 64 by London health authorities as at 31 March for the years 1998 to 2001, has been placed in the Library. Equivalent data for residential care places by London councils with social service responsibilities, has also been placed in the Library. Comparable data for 1997 are not available.
	Data on chronically ill people are not available as this is not one of the client groups for which separate information is collected.
	Figures for later years have been collected by the National Care Standards Commission.

Long-term Care

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made with identifying possible candidates for refund of care costs, following the publication of the Second Report, Session 2002–03, of the Health Service Ombudsman on NHS funding for long-term care of older and disabled people; and what steps he envisages that patients or their families would need to take to pursue their claims.

Stephen Ladyman: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) have established procedures to investigate inquiries for recompense of the costs of continuing care wrongly denied. To pursue a claim, patients or their families should contact their local SHA and request an investigation of their case.

Medical Appointment Letters

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate the NHS has made of potential savings derived from sending medical appointment letters by second class post.

John Hutton: No estimate has been made of potential savings derived from sending medical appointment letters by second class post. This is because it is the decision of each trust/health authority, based on locally decided priorities, whether or not post is sent out by first, or by second class.

Mental Health

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many in-patient beds have been available in London for patients with (a) mental health conditions and (b) learning disabilities in London in each year since 1997.

John Hutton: The average daily number of in-patient beds in London for patients with mental health conditions and learning disabilities in national health service trusts in the London area are shown in the table.
	
		Average daily number of available beds, mental illness and learning disability sectors, London area(12)
		
			  Mental illness Learning disability 
		
		
			 1996–97 7,186 576 
			 1997–98 7,300 569 
			 1998–99 7,008 554 
			 1999–2000 6,155 554 
			 2000–01 6,401 488 
			 2001–02 6,149 461 
			 2002–03 6,321 158 
		
	
	(12) Reorganisation of NHS administrative boundaries may mean figures are not directly comparable. From 1996–97 to 2000–01, the figures are based on the number of beds reported by NHS trusts within the London Regional Office boundary. For 2001–02 and 2002–03, the figures are based on the number of beds reported by NHS trusts located within the five London strategic health authorities of North West London, North Central London, North East London, South East London and South West London.
	Source:
	Department of Health form KH03.

Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many agency nurses are employed in each (a) hospital trust and (b) mental health trust shown (i) in actual numbers and (ii) as a percentage of nursing staff overall.

John Hutton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will commission research into the issues raised by Mind's report, The Hidden Costs of Mental Health; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department keeps its priorities for research under review. Priorities for departmental research and development support for the development of policy are determined through discussion with policy colleagues and Ministers. In the national health service, priorities are identified through widespread consultation with those using, delivering and managing services. They take account of the burden of disease, potential benefits and departmental objectives, as well as the responsibilities and work of other funders, including the charities.

National Standards Framework for Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he proposes to publish his substantive National Standards Framework for Children.

Stephen Ladyman: The national service framework for children, young people and maternity services will be published in 2004.

NHS Integrated Care System

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the results have been of the Gateway reviews of the NHS Integrated Care System.

John Hutton: New and large scale procurement projects in central Government are subject to gateway reviews. The process examines a project at critical stages to provide assurance that it can progress successfully to the next stage. The review provides project teams with advice and guidance from fellow practitioners and in order to maintain the integrity of the advice, this is held to be completely confidential by both parties. The gateway review process is not an audit.
	Recommendations are made to the senior responsible officer on good practice in key areas such as programme management, risk management and involving key stakeholders. The national programme is implementing any recommendations which arise from each stage in the gateway review.
	The national information technology programme is fully committed to external reviews being undertaken on a timely basis.

NHS Integrated Care System

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many man hours he estimates will be required to input a record for each NHS patient into the Integrated Care System; and who will be responsible for this work.

John Hutton: Data and information is already keyed in on multiple systems and on multiple occasions.
	The efficiency savings will be generated through data and information being keyed in once only. This will result in a net saving to the time required on record keeping and maintenance.
	The integrated care records service is not about entering historical data but about improving the capture, use and quality of current data and future support to patient care.

North Bristol Trusts (Chief Executive)

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was paid to the former Chief Executive of North Bristol Trusts on his departure in December 2002; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: holding answer 30 October 2003
	North Bristol National Health Service Trust made a payment to its former chief executive upon his resignation, the total value of which was £70,961 (gross); the net value of this to the employee following deductions for tax/ national insurance etc was £54,576.60. The payment was considered and approved by the trust's remuneration committee in line with its terms of reference.

Nurse Prescribing

Terry Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether persons on nurse prescribing courses can be individually funded;

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 4 November 2003
	The Department has made funds available to work force development confederations to train nurses in prescribing. It is for the confederation, in consultation with local National Health Service employers, to determine how to use the funds available to them.

PAF PI D43

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how long people waited for services in the last five years to be provided after their first contact as recorded in PAF PI D43, broken down by (a) age and (b) length of wait.

Stephen Ladyman: There is insufficient data available to answer this question in full, as national estimates on waiting times are available only for 2001–02.
	The estimated length of time between first contact and first service for new clients aged 18 and over for the year 2001–02 and the relevant percentages for each time band, are shown in the table, broken down by age group.
	We are unable to provide any estimated figures for England 2000–01 as only 52 local authorities provided data for the relevant return. Data for years previous to 2000–01 were not collected.
	
		Estimated length of time from first contact to first service for new clients by age group in 2001–02—England -- Rounded figures
		
			  Estimated figures Percentages 
			  All ages Clientsaged 18–64 Clientsaged 65+ All ages Clientsaged 18–64 Clientsaged 65+ 
		
		
			 All client groups 375,000 78,000 296,000 100 100 100 
			 Contact day or the following day 63,000 16,000 47,000 17 21 16 
			 More than day 52,000 9,300 43,000 14 12 15 
			 More than 1 week up to 2 weeks 46,000 8,000 38,000 12 10 13 
			 More than 2 weeks up to 6 weeks 93,000 17,000 76,000 25 22 26 
			 More than 6 weeks up to 12 weeks 48,000 10,000 38,000 13 13 13 
			 More than 12 weeks up to 6 months 40,000 9,100 31,000 11 12 10 
			 More than 6 months 33,000 9,500 23,000 9 12 8 
		
	
	Note:
	2001–02 data are national estimates based on 133 P5 forms
	Source:
	RAP return P5

Orthotics

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what the results of the Orthotics Pathfinder project were; and what the cost of the project was;
	(2)  whether it is his policy that the model of the Orthotics Pathfinder project will be introduced across the NHS.

John Hutton: The report of the Orthotics pathfinder project will be published in January 2004 and its policy implications will need to be considered. The total cost of the project was approximately £400,000 over a period of three and a half years. Most of this cost was to fund the changes in service provision, whose effectiveness the project was evaluating.

Patient Power Programme

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress towards the Patient Power programme; what targets have been set; and what the (a) deadlines and (b) baselines are for these targets.

John Hutton: Patient bedside televisions and telephones have been well received by patients and staff. The national health service and private sector suppliers are to be congratulated on the rapid progress being made, which to date is bringing over £100 million of investment into the NHS, and giving patients access to improved communications.
	Patient bedside televisions and telephones are operational in 95 hospitals, including 76 major facilities. We want all major hospitals to at least have a contract agreed by the end of 2003, and to have the system installed by the end of 2004. The exception will be a small number of hospitals with public finance initiative schemes which will install the system as their new hospitals come on line. We have also worked with suppliers in order to enable them to introduce the system to smaller sites, so as many NHS patients as possible can have access to the service.

Pharmacies

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many fully qualified pharmacists are working in pharmacies that provide services for more than 100 hours per week; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many pharmacies in England are open for more than 100 hours per week; and if he will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 30 October 2003
	The information requested is not held centrally. However, as at March 2002, out of a total of 9,756 national health service community pharmacies in England, 1,524, or 15.6 per cent., received payment for extended opening hours either before 0900 hours or after 1730 hours on Monday to Saturday (or after 1300 hours on an early closing day). 4,015, or 41.2 per cent., received payment for opening on Sundays or on public holidays.
	We are currently consulting on a range of measures to modernise the regulatory system which governs whether or not a community pharmacy can dispense NHS prescriptions. As well as maintaining and improving access to pharmacies in all our communities and continuing to raise standards for patients, the aim is to make the system more business friendly, to provide more certainty and reliability for the companies who depend on it and to make the process less time-consuming. The measures include a proposal to exempt from the current restrictions applications from pharmacies which intend to open more than 100 hours a week, provided they provide a full and prescribed range of services, appropriate to local needs, determined by the NHS primary care trust. Full details are given in the consultation document, "Proposals to reform and modernise the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992", published on 29 August 2003 and available on the Department's website at www. doh.gov.uk/pharmacyregulationconsultation.
	Comments can be sent, by 21 November 2003, to Peter Dunlevy, Pharmacy and Prescriptions Branch, Department of Health, Room 155 Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS or e-mailed to peter.dunlevy@doh.gsi.gov.uk.

Research and Development

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the national health service research and development programme was last inspected; and when it is next due to be inspected.

Melanie Johnson: The Department issued a research governance framework for health and social care in 2001. It brought together standards and statements of good practice against which national health service research and development programmes can in future be inspected. In 2002 and 2003, those NHS bodies involved in research reported to the Department on progress against an implementation plan.
	In 2004, it is intended that research governance will be one of the controls assurance standards for the NHS. The standard will provide a common point of reference for strategic health authorities' performance management of research governance, and for the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection to take into account in its assessments.
	Subject to legislation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will from 2004 have statutory responsibility for inspecting NHS and other sites where clinical trials involving medicinal products are conducted.

Sick Leave

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many sick leave days were taken in each London NHS Trust by (a) doctors, (b) nurses, (c) other health professionals and (d) other employees in (i) 1988, (ii) 1993, (iii) 1998 and (iv) for the most recent period available; and if he will make a statement.

John Hutton: National data on sickness absence levels in the national health service have been collected only since 1999. Information on working days lost in the NHS due to sickness of less than three days duration is not held centrally, but may be available from individual NHS employers.
	Action is being taken across the NHS to reduce sickness absence levels. A national improvement target has been set for all NHS employers to reduce sickness absence levels by 30 per cent. by 2003.

Sexual Health

John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who is responsible for matters of sexual health for the Birmingham and Black Country Strategic Health Authority area; and whether that authority has plans for the development of paediatric services.

Stephen Ladyman: The medical director of the Birmingham and the Black Country Strategic Health Authority (SHA) is responsible for sexual health services in that area. The SHA is in the process of setting up a clinical network to support development of these services.
	The SHA is currently working on its strategic framework, to be completed for full consultation by the end March 2004. Children's services are being addressed as part of that.

Sexual Health

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many teenagers were treated for sexually transmitted diseases in the (a) Eastbourne and (b) Surrey and Sussex Health Authority in each of the last 10 years.

Rosie Winterton: Information about the number of teenagers treated for sexually transmitted diseases is available only at health authority level, and is collected based on the residency of patients. This is shown in the tables.
	Data have been provided only since 1995–96 as, prior to 1995, the coding of diagnoses was different and so data would not be comparable.
	
		Primary diagnosis (ICD10 B20-B24, A50-A64) AIDS/HIV, sexually transmitted diseases: NHS hospitals, England, 1995–96 -- Count of finished in-year admission episodes Age on admission 13 to 19 years
		
			 Regional health authorities of residence Sussex and Surrey Number 
		
		
			 G21 East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 3 
			 H20 West Surrey 2 
			 H21 East Surrey 3 
			  Total 8 
		
	
	
		Primary diagnosis (ICD-10 B20-B24, A50-A64) AIDS/HIV, sexually transmitted diseases: NHS hospitals, England, 1996–97 to 2001–02 -- Count of finished in-year admission episodes Age on admission 13 to 19 years
		
			 Regional health authorities of residence Sussex and Surrey 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 QAK East Surrey 1 0 5 2 4 1 
			 QAL West Surrey 3 2 2 2 0 2 
			 QAM East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 6 3 9 5 3 0 
			 QAN West Sussex 2 4 1 6 3 0 
			  Total 12 9 17 15 10 3 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The figures for 1995–96 are based on old health authority areas.
	2. Admissions are defined as the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. They do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
	3. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
	4. Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2001–02, which is not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health.

Smoking

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of smoking-related deaths were due to (a) lung cancer, (b) heart attack, (c) stroke and (d) chronic lung disease in 2002.

Melanie Johnson: These data are not available in the form requested. However, an estimate of the proportion of deaths in the United Kingdom that were caused by smoking was made by the Health Education Authority in its 1998 report: "The UK Smoking Epidemic: Deaths in 1995". The table shows the proportions of all deaths caused by smoking for each of these diseases for people aged 35 and over.
	
		Estimated number and percentage of deaths caused by smoking: United Kingdom, 1995
		
			 Disease Number of deaths Percentage of total (net) deaths 
		
		
			 Total (net) 121,700 100 
			 Total (gross) 123,000  
			
			  Deaths from diseases caused by smoking: 
			 Cancer 46,500 38 
			 Respiratory 34,300 28 
			 Circulatory 40,300 33 
			 Digestive 1,900 2 
		
	
	Note:
	The percentages add up to 101 per cent. because the percentages have been based on the net total number of deaths. The net number of deaths takes into account the estimated number of deaths which may be prevented in part by smoking.
	Source:
	Health Education Authority: "The UK Smoking Epidemic: Deaths in 1995".

Urinary Tract Infections

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Chief Medical Officer's strategy for tackling healthcare associated infections will address catheter-associated urinary tract infections; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The Chief Medical Officer's strategy will be published shortly and will set out actions aimed at controlling all healthcare associated infections.

Walk-in Centres

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 58W, to the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Evan Harris), on walk-in centres, what protocol covers whether clinical information should be shared with a patient's general practitioner.

John Hutton: National health service walk-in centres are expected to work with their local Caldicott Guardian and are bound by the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Access to Health Records Act 1990.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital

Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the deficit at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital; and what timetable he has agreed for its repayment.

Stephen Ladyman: The West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority is currently developing a financial strategy, with the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals national health services trust and the three primary care trusts within Worcestershire, to address the financial challenges affecting the local health economy.
	In line with NHS finance regulations it is intended that Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS trust will return to recurrent financial balance within three years.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Early-years Education

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of three and four year-olds are receiving nursery or full time education.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 30 October 2003
	Around 96 per cent. of the three and four-year-old population in England receives funded early years education provided by a maintained school, a private and voluntary provider or an independent school in January 2003.
	We have made the commitment that by April 2004, six months ahead of our original target, all three-year-olds whose parents want one, will have access to a free, part-time early education place. Around 88 per cent. of three-year-olds are now benefiting from free early education.
	The latest figures on early years provision in England were published by the Department in the Statistical First Release 15/2003 "Provision For Children Under Five Years Of Age In England—January 2003 (Provisional)", copies of which are available from the Library and the Department's website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.

Education Provision(Bath and North East Somerset)

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money Bath and North East Somerset received in total capital funds from central government in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 2003–04; and if he will list the main components of that spending.

David Miliband: The following table sets out the capital allocations made by this Government to Bath and North East Somerset local education authority (LEA) and its schools in 1996–97 and 2003–04. The LEA determines investment of these funds by prioritising the capital requirements of its schools in an asset management plan.
	
		Capital allocations for Bath and North East Somerset LEA -- £000
		
			  1996–97 2003–04(13) 
		
		
			 LEA Co-ordinated Voluntary Aided Programme — 140 
			 Basic Need 1,545 1,364 
			 NDS Condition — 1,519 
			 NDS Devolved Formula — 2,383 
			 NDS Modernisation — 864 
			 Schools Access Initiative 45 334 
			 Schools Renewal Challenge Fund 511 — 
			 Seed Challenge — 224 
			 Staff Workspace — 96 
			 Supplementary Credit Approvals 425 — 
			 Targeted Capital Funding — 4,924 
			 Teaching Environments for the Future — 350 
			 Voluntary Aided School Grant 750 — 
			 Total 3,276 12,198 
		
	
	(13) Figures for 2003–04 are to date.

Education Provision(Bath and North East Somerset)

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what the pupil-computer ratio was in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Bath and North East Somerset in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2003;
	(2)  how many computers there were in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Bath and North East Somerset in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2003.

David Miliband: Information on the pupil-computer ratio and the number of computers in schools is not available in the form requested. Figures for England, which were derived from a sample of schools, are shown in the table.
	
		Average number of computers per school and average number of pupils(14) per computer (used solely or mainly for teaching and learning purposes) by type of school—England—1998 and 2003 (position as at 31 March)
		
			  Maintained primaryschools Maintained secondaryschools 
			  Average number of computers per school Average number of pupils per computer Average number of computers per school Average number of pupils per computer 
		
		
			 2003 28.6 7.9 192.7 5.4 
			 1998 13.3 17.6 100.9 8.7 
		
	
	(14) Full-time equivalent numbers of pupils within maintained primary and secondary schools.
	The latest information on ICT in schools was published in Statistical Bulletin "Survey of Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2003", which is available on the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.

Education Provision(Bath and North East Somerset)

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) three-year-olds and (b) four-year-olds were in receipt of free nursery education in Bath and North East Somerset in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2003; and if he will estimate what proportion of the local three-year-old population these figures represent.

David Miliband: Information is not available in the form requested. The available information is shown in the table.
	
		Number(15) of three and four-year-olds taking up free early education places that are fully funded—Bath and North East Somerset Local Education Authority area 1997 and 2002 (position in January each year)
		
			  1997 2002 
		
		
			 Three-year-olds (16)310 730 
			 Four-year-olds 1,700 1,800 
		
	
	(15) Part-time equivalent number of children.
	(16) Only includes three-year-olds attending maintained nursery and primary schools. (There was no Nursery Education Grant available for places for three-year-olds in 1997.)
	In every local education authority area, there is an early education place for every four year old whose parents want one in either the maintained, private or voluntary sector. We have made the commitment that by April 2004, six months ahead of our original target, all three-year-olds whose parents want one, will have access to a free, part-time early education place.
	Latest figures on three-year-olds and four-year-olds in early years providers were published by the Department in the Statistical Bulletin 'Provision for Children under five years of age in England—January 2002' (08/02) in December 2002, a copy of which is available from the Library. An electronic copy of this publication is also available on the Department's website (www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics).

Education Provision (East Riding)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children in (a) the Haltemprice and Howden constituency, (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (c) England remained in education after the completion of their GCSEs in each year since 1997.

David Miliband: Data on the percentage of students staying on in full-time education and education and training is not calculated for areas smaller than LEAs, as reliable estimates cannot be made.
	The percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time education, and in education and training, in East Riding of Yorkshire Local Education Authority and in England for end 1997 to end 2000, the latest available year, are shown in the table.
	
		Participation by 16-year-olds
		
			  End 1997 End 1998 End 1999 End 2000 
		
		
			 Full-time education
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 70 71 72 74 
			 England 70 70 71 71 
			  
			 Education and training
			 East Riding of Yorkshire (17)n/a 88 87 87 
			 England 84 83 83 83 
		
	
	(17) Education and training figures by LEA were first published for 1998.
	Participation rates by LEA for 16 and 17-year-olds are published in an annual statistical bulletin, "Participation in Education and Training by Young People Aged 16 and 17 in Each Local Area and Region, England".

GCSE Syllabuses

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he has had with examination boards about the compliance of GCSE syllabuses on child care and child development with the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes.

David Miliband: The responsibility for determining the content of GCSE syllabuses lies with the regulatory authority—the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)—and the awarding bodies. I have asked the QCA to consider whether the provisions of the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes are adequately reflected in the awarding bodies' GCSE child care related syllabuses. The Chief Executive of QCA will advise you of the outcome in due course.

Key Stage Tests

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in Bath and North East Somerset in (a) 1996–97 and (b) 2002–03 gained Level 4 or above in their Key Stage 2 tests in (i) English and (ii) mathematics.

David Miliband: The percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 or above at Key Stage 2 in Bath and North East Somerset in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003 in (i) English and (ii) mathematics are as follows:
	
		Percentage
		
			  English Mathematics 
		
		
			 1997   
			 Bath and North East Somerset 68 66 
			 England 63 62 
			
			 2003 (provisional)  
			 Bath and North East Somerset 78 76 
			 England 75 73

Key Stage Tests

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Bath and North East Somerset in 2002–03 were eligible to sit Key Stage 2 tests.

David Miliband: The total number of children in Bath and North East Somerset who were eligible to sit Key Stage 2 tests were:
	2003 (provisional): 1,811
	2002: 1,801.

Local Education Authority Expenditure

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the target transitional grant for Staffordshire local education authority will be in the next two years; and what arrangements have been made for the provision of the grant.

David Miliband: Details of the transitional support package for 2004–05 and 2005–06, including the arrangements for paying the targeted grant, will be published at the time of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement later this month.
	On 29 October the government published indicative figures for the targeted grant in 2004–05, which have been placed in the Library of the House. These assumed that grant would be available to authorities whose increase in Education Formula Spending and relevant DfES grant between 2002–03 and 2004–05 would otherwise be less than 12 per cent. per pupil. The increase in Staffordshire LEA is expected to be above 12 per cent. per pupil over the relevant period, which means it would not be eligible for the targeted grant.
	However, if Staffordshire or any other LEA is able to put forward a compelling case that additional, transitional funds are needed in the short term—above and beyond those already available to the LEA—my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be prepared to consider bringing forward grant payments from my department, so that the LEA will have funds available in 2004–05 for this purpose, with the expectation of a consequential reduction to what they will receive in future years. The maximum amount that might be made available in this way would be a maximum of £300,000 per authority, or 0.2 per cent. of the authority's total education resources in 2004–05, if that is higher. For Staffordshire, 0.2 per cent. of its education resources would be over £800,000.

Ofsted Inspections

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the trends in the percentage of Year 10 and 11 lessons inspected by Ofsted and recorded as set by ability in (a) history, (b) geography, (c) modern languages, (d) science and (e) English between 1996 and 2002.

David Miliband: The following tables show the percentages of lessons that inspectors recorded as setted by ability by subject in each year for pupils in years 10 and 11. These data are among the background information which are collected by inspectors to assist them in making judgments about standards achieved in schools and are not part of a representative survey of the use of setting by schools.
	The table figures provide a useful indicative picture of the use of setting across subjects, with setting being used in the vast majority of schools in mathematics, more than three-quarters of schools in science, and between half and three quarters of schools in English and modern foreign languages. A more detailed study, undertaken over a number of years with a consistent sample of schools, would be needed to enable secure judgments to be made about trends.
	
		
			  Year 10 Year 11 
		
		
			 History   
			 1996 27 27 
			 1996/97 23 22 
			 1997/98 24 23 
			 1998/99 21 24 
			 1999/2000 21 23 
			 2000/01 23 25 
			 2001/02 20 19 
			 1996–2002 23 23 
			
			 Geography   
			 1996 34 37 
			 1996/97 30 29 
			 1997/98 28 32 
			 1998/99 30 32 
			 1999/2000 35 33 
			 2000/01 29 31 
			 2001/02 24 23 
			 1996–2002 30 30 
			
			 Modern Languages   
			 1996 66 67 
			 1996/97 69 65 
			 1997/98 67 66 
			 1998/99 69 69 
			 1999/2000 68 67 
			 2000/01 70 70 
			 2001/02 70 69 
			 1996–2002 69 67 
			
			 Science   
			 1996 70 68 
			 1996/97 77 69 
			 1997/98 76 76 
			 1998/99 76 76 
			 1999/2000 77 77 
			 2000/01 85 82 
			 2001/02 85 86 
			 1996–2002 78 76 
			
			 English   
			 1996 45 54 
			 1996/97 55 50 
			 1997/98 56 58 
			 1998/99 51 49 
			 1999/2000 52 56 
			 2000/01 59 61 
			 2001/02 56 59 
			 1996–2002 54 54 
			
			 Mathematics   
			 1996 85 83 
			 1996/97 90 86 
			 1997/98 91 89 
			 1998/99 90 91 
			 1999/2000 89 89 
			 2000/01 93 92 
			 2001/02 92 92 
			 1996–2002 90 89

Qualifications

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what programmes are sponsored by his Department to ensure that (a) higher educational courses and (b) vocational training are responsive to forecast demand in the labour market.

Alan Johnson: There are a number of programmes that are responding to forecast labour market demands. In higher education they include: the expansion of Foundation Degrees, New Technology Institutes (NTI), the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund, Aimhigher and the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT).
	In terms of vocational training, programmes such as Modern Apprenticeships and Advanced Modern Apprenticeships are designed to meet existing and future labour market needs. The Higher Education Funding Council and the Learning and Skills Council are working closely with the Skills for Business network and Regional Development Agencies to ensure that vocational qualifications meet the needs of local, regional and national labour markets. Further information is included in 21st Century Skills: Realising our Potential.

Qualifications

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the vocational training programmes recognised by his Department are structured in such a way that it is possible by undertaking additional further courses of study to obtain a degree level qualification.

Alan Johnson: All programmes at Level 3 in the National Qualifications Framework have the potential to allow students to undertake further courses of study to obtain a degree level qualification.
	In particular reformed Advanced Modern Apprenticeship frameworks now include technical certificates. These are taken in addition to NVQ at Level 3 to assess underpinning occupational knowledge. Their inclusion in frameworks now allows for easier progression to higher education for those with the aptitude to do so.
	We are also expanding the number of Foundation Degrees available, with 10,000 extra places from next year. These are new qualifications and provide opportunities for individuals to progress to full honours degrees.

Qualifications

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the evidential basis is for the statement in the Higher Education White paper that 80 per cent. of future jobs will require education to level 4.

Alan Johnson: The White Paper stated that:
	'Between 1999 and 2010 the number of jobs in higher level occupations—the ones most likely to be filled by those who have been through higher education—will grow by over one and a half million. That represents 80 per cent. of new jobs over the decade'.
	This forecast is based on work carried out by the Institute for Employment Research in 2001: 'Projections of Occupations and Qualifications 2000/01: Research in Support of the National Skills Task Force', Department for Education and Employment. The research estimated that out of the 2.1 million new jobs expected to be created between 1999 and 2010, 1.7 million (or 80 per cent.) will be in the top three occupational groups. These are the jobs which require the sorts of skills that can be acquired through Higher Education.

Teaching Assistants

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are being taken to ensure that the phrase teaching assistants includes (a) supervisors working with classes of children without the presence of a teacher and (b) others employed under paragraph 10 of Schedule 2 to Statutory Instrument 1663 employed to undertake specified work and that these are recorded separately from those who already appear in the teachers tables of the school workforce statistics when these figures are next collected from schools and local education authorities.

David Miliband: holding answer 4 November 2003
	Guidance to LEAs completing the Annual Survey of Teacher Numbers and Vacancies (618G) in January 2004 will make clear that support staff who may be providing cover supervision, or who may be carrying out specified work without a teacher present under the conditions set out in the regulations, should continue to be counted separately from teachers. We would expect most of these to be counted as teaching assistants in the Annual Schools Census, but often support staff in schools undertake more than one role. We are also considering what further categorisation we might introduce for the 2005 school census.
	The Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group will continue to monitor developments in the strategies used by schools to deal effectively with teacher absence as part of its wider role in overseeing the implementation of the National Agreement on raising standards and tackling workload.

Trainee Teachers

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the additional financial support offered to trainee teachers since 1997.

David Miliband: Since 1998, full tuition fee remission has been available to most postgraduate trainee teachers in England. In 1999, the Government announced a further package of support which consisted of a payment of £2,500 for people taking Postgraduate Certificate in Education courses in mathematics and science and a further £2,500 payable on appointment to a relevant post in the same subjects.
	These payments were superseded in September 2000 when the Government introduced £6,000 training bursaries for eligible postgraduate trainee teachers and £4,000 Golden Hellos for those going on to teach one of five priority subjects in a maintained school in England. These incentives have been reinforced by the Repayment of Teachers' Loans pilot scheme, introduced in September 2002 for new teachers of priority subjects.
	These measures have contributed to an increase of over 5,000 in the number of recruits to courses of Initial Teacher Training between 1998/99 and 2002/03.

Student Finance

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned on the principal alternative models for (a) university finance and (b) student funding.

Alan Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 30 October 2003, Official Report, column 429, in which I cited the work the Government had done on the principal alternative options considered in the Higher Education Review for student finance and university funding—namely, an increase in flat-rate fees, a graduate tax and real rates of interest on student loans.
	In addition, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills wrote a letter on this issue to my hon. Friend for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Paul Farrelly) on two separate occasions, on 11 April and 3 June 2003; both copies are placed in the House Library.

Work Placement

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what reports he has received on health and safety related to trainees on placement; and how experience is disseminated among learning and skills councils.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer29 October 2003
	The Secretary of State receives individual accident reports on trainees injured while on work placement. The Learning Skills Council also report on health and safety issues as part of regular performance reviews with Ministers. They have their own internal arrangements for sharing information with local offices. Mark Haysom, the Chief Executive of the LSC, will write to my hon. Friend with further details of these arrangements and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Cemeteries

Andrew Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made in implementing the Government response to the Transport, Local Government and the Regions Committee Report on Cemeteries.

Paul Goggins: We are planning to publish a public consultation document on reform of the burial laws shortly. We have now completed a pilot survey of burial grounds, and expect to launch the main survey soon. We are also currently considering the publication of a report on the research carried out last year. Guidance on cemetery management and memorial safety is well in hand.

Anti-social Behaviour Orders

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been (a) applied for and (b) granted in each district council within County Durham.

Hazel Blears: Information is given in the table on the number of notifications, as reported to the Home Office, of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) applied for and issued within the County of Durham from 1 April 1999 up to 30 June 2003 (latest available).
	
		The number of ASBOs, as notified to the Home Office by Magistrates courts committees and the Crown court, by complainant and local authority area within the County of Durham, 1 April 1999 to 30 June 2003
		
			  Applications by complainant 
			 Local authority area Total applications Local authority Police Total issued Total refused 
		
		
			  
			  
			 Durham 24 6 18 24 0 
			 of which:  
			 from 1 April 1999 to 31 May 2000 by pfa n/a n/a n/a 0 n/a 
			 from 1 June 2000 to 30 June 2003 by local authority area 24 6 18 24 0 
			 Chester-le-Street DC 2 0 2 2 0 
			 Darlington BC 4 0 4 4 0 
			 Derwentside DC 4 3 1 4 0 
			 Durham CC(18) (18)4 0 (18)4 (18)4 0 
			 Easington DC 4 0 4 4 0 
			 Sedgefield BC 3 2 1 3 0 
			 Wear Valley DC 3 1 2 3 0 
		
	
	(18) Order also includes prohibitions in Wear Valley DC
	n/a = Not available (Note: Between 1 April 1999—31 May 2000 data available on number issued by police force area (pfa) only)

Asylum Seekers

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been refused support by the National Asylum Support Service under section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002; and what reports he has received about the length of time these people had been in the United Kingdom before claiming support.

Beverley Hughes: Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 came into force on 8 January 2003, restricting the availability of National Asylum Support Service (NASS) support to those asylum seekers who make an asylum application as soon as reasonably practicable.
	Of the total (4,365) cases referred to NASS for a Section 55 decision in the first quarter of 2003, 2,850 were refused NASS support on the grounds that their claims were not made as soon as reasonably practicable.
	Of the total (3,110) cases referred to NASS for a Section 55 decision in the second quarter of 2003, 1,830 were refused NASS support on the grounds that their claims were not made as soon as reasonably practicable.
	Information on how long these applicants had been in the United Kingdom before making an asylum claim is not held centrally.

Asylum Seekers

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with (a) local authorities and (b) service providers about the provision of housing for asylum seekers when the current contracts expire; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate is in the process of developing a strategy which will determine the procurement of accommodation post 2005 when the majority of its current accommodation contracts expire. Local authorities, private sector accommodation providers, voluntary sector agencies, lobby groups and a number of Government Departments are all being consulted about the development of this strategy.

Cannabis

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will announce his decision on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Caroline Flint: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has yet to complete its evaluation of the safety, quality and effectiveness of the medical preparation of a cannabis-based drug developed and tested by GW Pharmaceuticals.
	Once marketing approval has been received, we will move without delay to seek Parliament's agreement to any necessary changes to the misuse of drugs legislation. Our aim is to ensure ready and early availability of the drug as a prescribed medicine.

Cannabis

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the sources of cannabis entering the UK; and what has been done to combat the amounts of cannabis imported.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	Current assessments of the source of cannabis entering the EU and UK are contained in 'The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Annual Report 2003'; 'Tackling Drugs Communications and Campaign Pack' published by the Home Office and 'Cannabis—An Update 1999–2002' by Professor D. J. Nutt and Dr. J. R. Nash. Copies of these are published at
	www.emcdda.eu.int and www.drugs.gov.uk.
	Customs enforce the import prohibition which applies to cannabis and seizure data is published annually in their Annual Report. In 2001–02 Customs seized over 67 tonnes of cannabis.

Cannabis

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy on declassifying cannabis; and what assessment he has made of the impact of declassification on cannabis consumption.

Caroline Flint: The Government believe that all controlled drugs, including cannabis, are harmful and that no one should take them. But our drug laws and our educational messages to young people must reflect the relative harms of drugs, in accordance with the available scientific and medical advice, if they are to be credible, convincing and, ultimately, effective.
	The Government's proposal to reclassify cannabis to Class C—in line with the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and of the Home Affairs Select Committee—will help us to convey a more open, honest and balanced educational message—to young people in particular—about the dangers of misusing illegal drugs.
	Reclassification of cannabis is also designed to continue to deter use of the drug, because of its continued illegality, while enabling the police to put in place a consistent regime for policing cannabis, in line with the Association of Chief Police Officers' cannabis enforcement guidance. This will allow the police to redeploy resources to tackling more serious offences, including dealing in Class A drugs, like heroin and crack cocaine, which do the most harm.
	The Government will seek to make an impact on the current level of cannabis use by launching an educational and advertising campaign in January aimed at young people, making it clear how the law will operate in practice and seeking to dissuade them from experimenting with cannabis. We are also taking a tough line with dealers.

Crime Statistics

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect of the adoption of the National Crime Recording Standard on the capacity to compare crime statistics with previous years' performance.

Hazel Blears: It is difficult to make valid comparisons of recorded crime statistics over time owing to changes in police recording, the latest being the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) in April 2002. However, the adoption of the NCRS by all forces will establish a fairer and more consistent basis upon which future crime statistics can be interpreted, both nationally and between police forces.
	In order to provide a more realistic picture of crime levels, the Home Office has conducted a full evaluation of the estimated impact of the NCRS at a national and force level for 2002–03. More detailed information about the methodology can be found at http://www.homeoffice.gov.Uk/rds/pdfs2/rdsolr3103.pdf. The study concluded that overall the crimes counted in 2002–03 were approximately 10 per cent. higher than they would have been under pre-NCRS recording practices.
	Additionally, it is important to note that findings from the British Crime Survey, which is the most authoritative source on crime trends (and which has not been affected by changes to police recording practices) enable trends in crime over the last 20 years to be identified on a reliable basis.

Crime Statistics (Avon and Somerset)

Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug dealers were convicted in Avon and Somerset in (a) 1997, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003.

Caroline Flint: The table contains data from the Home Office Court Appearances and Cautions Drugs Database showing the number of drug dealers in the Avon and Somerset Police force area brought to justice in the years 1996 to 2000 (the latest year available). The term 'brought to justice' has been taken to mean cautioned or found guilty of 'dealing' in drugs. "Dealing" has been taken mean drug trafficking, that is: to include possession with intent to supply, unlawful supply, unlawful production and unlawful import/export.
	
		Drug dealers brought to justice in Avon and Somerset police force area, 1996 to 2000
		
			  Number of dealers 
		
		
			 1996 340 
			 1997 360 
			 1998 350 
			 1999 330 
			 2000 310 
		
	
	These data are taken from the annual Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Drug Seizure and Offender Statistics, UK 2000", which is available on the RDS website and in the Library http://www.homeoffice. gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb402.pdf.

Drugs

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of anti-drugs campaigns in (a) the United States and (b) other EU countries.

Caroline Flint: The issue of drugs is common to many countries. However trends in drug use differ form one country to the next. It is therefore difficult to make comparisons between Britain and other countries.
	Part of the development of the "Frank" drugs campaign currently running in England and Wales was an assessment of the effectiveness of campaigns in the United States and in European Union member states. These supported the findings of research in this country that campaigns that aim to shock have at best limited success, because potential users do not associate themselves with the messages. What is needed instead is reliable information and advice for personal contacts of potential users and for potential users themselves. The Frank campaign has been designed in that light.

Dungavel Removal Centre

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his response is to the Report by Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons on Dungavel Removal Centre; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: We welcomed the publication of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons' inspection report on Dungavel Removal Centre. We were pleased to see that the report concluded that Dungavel was essentially a place of safety where detainees were treated with respect and received a good standard of custodial care. The report contains a number of recommendations and we are considering these carefully. We will respond formally to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector shortly.

Dungavel Removal Centre

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Fatima Muse was fined by staff at Dungavel Removal Centre on 27 August after hiding food in her room; under what power this was done; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: Detainees at Dungavel Removal Centre are not fined. They benefit from an incentive scheme that provides them with a weekly cash allowance provided their behaviour and conduct is satisfactory. In the case of unsatisfactory behaviour, a warning letter will be issued and, if the detainee's behaviour does not improve, consideration will be given to withdrawing the weekly allowance. Unsatisfactory behaviour may include breaches of the centre rules on hygiene or health and safety. Detainees taking food from the dining room to their rooms would constitute such a breach. In the case in question, a warning letter was issued in respect of a number of separate matters but the detainee's weekly allowance was not in fact withdrawn.

Ethnic Monitoring System

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what published reports have been produced by Government (a) departments and (b) agencies using information gathered through an approved statutory ethnic monitoring system.

Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not immediately available. We are currently seeking this information. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as this information has been received and collated.

HMP Leyhill

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have absconded from HMP Leyhill in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many of these have not been recaptured; and if he will place in the Library for each absconder in the last year a list of (a) the original offence for which they were imprisoned, (b) their original sentence and (c) the average length of their outstanding sentence.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 28 October 2003
	Leyhill is an open category D training establishment containing adult males mostly from the South West Area, although many transfer from other establishments after their recategorisation to category D. Leyhill also holds life sentence prisoners, allocated nationally.
	Eighty-two prisoners absconded from Leyhill between 1 November 2002 and 24 October 2003. Of these 19 have not yet been recaptured. Table 1 lists for each absconder the offence for which he was imprisoned, the sentence and the length of sentence outstanding between the date of abscond and the expected release date. For prisoners other than life sentenced prisoners the average period for the time from date of abscond to expected release date was 10 months. Table 2 shows the changes in population, and the number of time served prisoners who were discharged from Leyhill in the last 12 months.
	
		Table 1
		
			 Offence Sentence Time to expected release date, at date of abscond Those not recaptured by24 October 2003 
		
		
			 Theft 2 years 6 months 11 months  
			 Violent Disorder 1 year 10 months 9 months  
			 Robbery 5 years 14 months No 
			 Wounding with Intent 7 years 6 months 21 months  
			 Supply of Drugs 4 years 14 months  
			 Breach of Supervision Order 2 year 6 months 3 months  
			 Theft 6 months 3 months  
			 Burglary 2 years 9 months  
			 Taking and Driving Away 7 months 26 days 3 months No 
			 Burglary 3 years 5 months  
			 Attempted Robbery 4 years 6 months 14 months  
			 Burglary 4 years 3 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 3 months  
			 Robbery 6 years 8 months  
			 Deception 3 year 10 months 8 months  
			 Grievous Bodily Harm 12 years 2 years No 
			 Burglary 5 years 14 months  
			 Burglary 4 years 6 months 14 months  
			 Driving whilst Disqualified 10 months 3 months  
			 Driving whilst Disqualified 4 months 1 month  
			 Deception 7 years 3 months 13 months No 
			 Burglary 3 years 1 month  
			 Taking and Driving Away 1 year 9 months 1 month No 
			 Conspiracy to Theft 2 years 3 months No 
			 Breach of Community Supervision Order 6 months 1 month  
			 Burglary 2 years 6 months 13 months  
			 Burglary 5 years 8 months  
			 Attempted Robbery 4 years 9 months 7 months  
			 Burglary 5 years 11 months  
			 Robbery 6 years 14 months  
			 Burglary 5 years 4 months 9 months  
			 Murder life date to be fixed  
			 Murder life date to be fixed No 
			 Customs Evasion Drugs 8 years 10 months 18 months No 
			 Importing Drugs 5 years 13 months  
			 Burglary 18 months 3 months No 
			 Murder life date to be fixed  
			 Burglary 3 years 11 months  
			 Robbery 8 years 1 year 9 months  
			 Burglary 3 year 3 months 7 months  
			 Possession of Drugs 4 years 6 months 6 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 3 months  
			 Handling Stolen Goods 2 years 6 months 7 months  
			 Murder life date to be fixed  
			 Burglary 2 years 6 months 6 months  
			 Wounding with Intent 7 years 14 months  
			 Possession of Drugs 3 years 10 months 3 months  
			 Driving whilst Disqualified 6 months 1 month  
			 Burglary 6 years 11 months  
			 Robbery 3 years 5 months  
			 Robbery 3 years 6 months 9 months No 
			 Burglary 5 years 2 months  
			 Robbery 5 years 2 months 23 months  
			 Robbery 4 years 20 months  
			 Robbery 4 years 8 months No 
			 Robbery 3 years 2 months  
			 Robbery 5 years 8 months  
			 Theft 3 years 7 months No 
			 Burglary 10 months 2 months  
			 Burglary 4 years 6 months 2 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 1 month  
			 Robbery 4 years 16 months  
			 Burglary 2 years 6 months 9 months  
			 Burglary 4 years 2 months 8 months  
			 Robbery 5 years 11 months  
			 Manslaughter 7 years 16 months No 
			 Burglary 6 years 2 months 6 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 6 months  
			 Rape 7 years 22 months  
			 Drugs 4 years 4 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 4 months No 
			 Burglary 3 years 3 months 11 months  
			 Attempted Burglary 1 year 7 months 2 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 11 months 15 months  
			 Wonding with Intent 4 years 18 months  
			 Burglary 3 years 11 months  
			 Robbery 4 years 4 months  
			 Drugs 1 year 3 months 1 month No 
			 Prossession of Drugs 6 years 21 months  
			 Burglary 3 year 6 months 1 month  
			 Theft 8 months 2 months  
			 Burglary 1 year 5 months 6 months  
			 Burglary 2 years 8 months  
			 Affray 1 year 3 months  
			 Grievous Bodily Harm 6 years 3 months  
			 Threatening Behaviour 1 year 6 months 1 month  
			 Robbery 11 years 5 months  
			 Robbery 9 years 6 months 26 months No 
			 Breach of Probation Order 4 years 9 months No 
			 Wounding with Intent 4 years 4 monts  
			 Customs Evasion 5 years 6 months 16 months No 
			 Theft 1 year 4 months 7 months  
			 Attempted Murder Life Date to be fixed No 
		
	
	
		Table 2
		
			  Baseline CNA(19) Population Discharges 
		
		
			 October 2002 512 445 83 
			 November 2002 512 449 75 
			 December 2002 512 382 96 
			 January 2003 512 360 59 
			 February 20003 512 431 38 
			 March 2003 512 497 89 
			 April 2003 512 500 76 
			 May2003 512 495 81 
			 
			 June 2003 512 500 82 
			 July 2003 512 508 82 
			 August 2003 512 511 69 
			 September 2003 512 506 61 
		
	
	(19) CNA = Certified Normal Accommodation

Home Detention Curfews

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have been released from prison on the Home Detention Curfew scheme since the introduction of presumptive release.

Paul Goggins: The total number of home detention curfew (HOC) releases from 1 May 2002, when the presumptive scheme was introduced, to 30 April 2003 is recorded as 21,928, of which 11,259 were from sentences of under a year.

Immigration

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects a decision to be made on the application by (a) Mrs. Geraldine Marchant and (b) her daughter Ms Martina Rhule, Ref:M1012795, for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 30 October 2003
	A decision in respect of both applicants should be made within the next two months.

Information Technology

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Police Service spent on purchasing and upgrading IT equipment (a) in 2003 and (b) in 2002; and what this cost per police officer.

Hazel Blears: The information is set out in the table.
	
		Purchasing and upgrading IT equipment
		
			  Estimated expenditure on ICT equipment(20) England and Wales(£ thousands) Estimated cost per police officer (£) 
		
		
			 2002–03 241,358 (21)1,8622 
			 2003–04 203,826 (22)1,5283 
		
	
	(20) Information, Communication and Technology capital expenditure includes provisions for Airwave, the new communications system.
	(21) Based on police numbers in England and Wales as at 31 March 2002.
	(22) Based on police numbers in England and Wales as at 31 March 2003.
	Source
	2002–03 figures—CIPFA Police Statistics 2002–03 Estimates
	2003–04 figures—CIPFA Police Statistics 2003–04 Estimates

John Tero

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the terms of reference are of the independent clinical review of the case of the late Mr. John Tero;
	(2)  who is carrying out the independent clinical review of the late Mr. John Tero's care in prison;
	(3)  when he expects the independent clinical review into the case of the late Mr. John Tero to report;
	(4)  what evidence is being considered in the independent clinical review of the case of the late Mr. John Tero.

Paul Goggins: I was sorry to learn of Mr. Tero's death. The Prison Service has asked Dr. Joseph Blackburn, a General Practitioner and Clinical Governance lead for North Surrey Primary Care Trust, to undertake a clinical review of this. He was given the following terms of reference:
	"In respect to the care of Mr John Tero during his period in custody at Her Majesty's Prison Woodhill and Her Majesty's Prison Wymott:
	Was the care post Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP) satisfactory and equivalent to care in the NHS?
	Was the care of his gastric symptoms satisfactory and equivalent to care in the NHS, including with regard to:
	the clinical recordings of the patient's weight.
	referral and attendance at hospital appointments?
	Would any of above have affected the prognosis?"
	The Prison Service expects Dr. Blackburn to consider any evidence which he feels is relevant to these terms of reference. The Prison Service expects to receive Dr. Blackburn's report in November.

Miscarriages of Justice

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people are waiting for admittance to the compensation for miscarriages of justice scheme.

Paul Goggins: There are currently 58 applicants waiting the determination of their eligibility for compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (the statutory scheme) or under the ex-gratia arrangements announced by the then Home Secretary (Douglas Hurd) in his statement to the House of Commons on 29 November 1985.

Miscarriages of Justice

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who have served under 20 years in prison before being released due to a miscarriage of justice are waiting for admittance to the compensation for miscarriages of justice scheme.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 21 October 2003
	This information is not readily available. The length of time spent in prison following a wrongful conviction is not a matter that affects a decision on eligibility for compensation. This only becomes a factor when the level of award for a successful applicant is assessed. Consequently, those wrongfully convicted, or their representatives, do not always provide custody details with their initial applications for compensation.

Miscarriages of Justice

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to ensure that prompt mental health assessments are available for victims of miscarriages of justice.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 21 October 2003
	The Home Office funded Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Bureau Miscarriage of Justice Project supports prisoners who have their convictions referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in the period leading up to their release and for up to six months after. This service would extend to providing advice on obtaining any necessary medical assistance.
	Psychiatric and other medical reports are often provided by successful claimants for compensation for miscarriage of justice in support of the non-pecuniary loss element of their claim when it is alleged that the claimant's health/mental health has been affected by their period in prison. While the onus is on the applicant to provide such reports to substantiate the particular element of their claim, the cost in obtaining them will be considered when the final award is being assessed.

Miscarriages of Justice

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average waiting time for admittance to the compensation for miscarriages of justice scheme over the last 12 months was.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 21 October 2003
	In the 12 months to September 2003, the average time taken to determine eligibility for compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (the statutory scheme) or under the ex-gratia arrangements announced by the then Home Secretary (Douglas Hurd) in his statement to the House of Commons on 29 November 1985 was 182 days.

North Wales Police

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) staff, (b) civilian staff and (c) police officers have been recruited by North Wales Police in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Hazel Blears: The number of police officers in North Wales Police was 1,607 at 31 August 2003, an increase of 238 since March 1997. The number of police staff at 31 March 2003 was 703, an increase of 227 since 31 March 1997. Figures for the recruitment of police staff are not collected centrally. Those for police officers are set in the table.
	
		North Wales police
		
			  Police officers recruitment  
		
		
			 2000–01 119 
			 2001–02 90 
			 2002–03 1,331 
		
	
	Note:
	March 2003 figures are not comparable to previous recruitment figures as data includes transfers from England and Wales forces and officers returning after a period of secondment.

Driving Offences

David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the number of penalty points required to be incurred by drivers leading to an automatic ban; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Drivers can expect to be disqualified from driving if they acquire 12 penalty points. The Government have no plans to increase this trigger level.

People Trafficking

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the need for the introduction of safe houses in Leicestershire for (a) women and (b) children rescued from traffickers involved in the illegal sex trade.

Caroline Flint: The Government has acknowledged that provision needs to be made for the victims of trafficking, in whichever part of the country they may live. It is intended that any victim support measures should be available in due course for all victims of trafficking.
	The best information we have about possible number of victims of trafficking in the United Kingdom comes from research published in the report—Stopping Traffic (2002). This estimated that anything between 140 and 1,400 were trafficked annually into the UK for purposes of sexual exploitation.
	At present the majority of known trafficking cases are in London and surrounding areas—this is where the service delivery partner is based and have developed their specialist services. Additionally pro-active policing by the Metropolitan Police is uncovering numbers of victims of trafficking in London also.
	There is growing evidence to suggest this is a national problem and it seems reasonable to suppose that wherever there is a well developed vice market, there is likely to be a demand for trafficked women to work in the sex industry.
	The White Paper "Secure Borders, Safe Haven"—published in February 2002—sets out our general proposals for assisting the victims of human trafficking.
	On 10 March this year, we launched a pilot scheme in the London area. Under the scheme, adult female victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation whose circumstances meet the criteria set out in the White Paper are offered protection and support provided:
	The victim has been brought to the UK;
	She is being forcibly exploited;
	She is working as a prostitute or she demonstrates that she has escaped from the trafficker, and that in the period immediately prior to her escape she had been working as a prostitute;
	She has come forward to the authorities; and;
	She is willing to co-operate with the authorities.
	The objectives of the pilot scheme include: to develop mechanisms that enable and ensure formal assessment of the number of victims of trafficking, the assessment of the relevance and impact of the services provided, development of a multi-disciplinary case-work model to facilitate the effective identification and assessment of victims.
	Under the provisions of the Children Act 1989 minors are the responsibility of local authority social services Departments. It is not possible for minors to be admitted to the pilot scheme.
	The pilot scheme will be evaluated to assess its impact. We will then consider what more we can do to help victims of trafficking.

Police

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests were made by police officers in England and Wales on foot patrol in each of the last six years; and what percentage of arrests made in England and Wales this represents.

Hazel Blears: Information collected centrally on the number of persons arrested for notifiable offences does not distinguish foot patrol arrests from other arrests.

Police Grant Allocation

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage floor will be set on his Department's police grant allocation; and if he will make a statement on the relationship of that floor to the police pay award.

Hazel Blears: I shall announce details of the provisional police funding settlement for 2004–05 in mid November, including details of the floor and ceiling on police grant.

Prisons

Mark Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time prison officers were employed by HM Prison Service in Essex on 1 September.

Paul Goggins: On 1 September 2003, there were 255 full-time prison officers, including senior officers and principal officers, employed in Essex. There were 76 at Bullwood Hall prison and young offender institution and 179 at Chelmsford prison.

Prisons

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the establishment of staff is at (a) Downview and (b) High Down Prisons; and how many staff were in post at each prison on 1 October.

Paul Goggins: The information requested is shown in the table. Figures are for all staff and are full time equivalent basis.
	
		
			  Complement1 October 2003 Staff in post1 October 2003 
		
		
			 Downview 234 186.5 
			 High Down 481 446

Prisons

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 6 October 2003, Official Report, column 1246W, on prisons, if he will assess the likelihood of the legislative and other changes listed in his answer being fully implemented within the timescales of the projections.

Paul Goggins: The prison population projections only include legislative and policy changes that have been implemented or have an agreed date for implementation. All those listed in the previous answer are expected to have delivered their full impact during the period covered by the projections apart from automatic life sentences for serious repeat offenders where the impact is expected to extend beyond June 2009. The impact beyond June 2009 is projected to be around 50 prison places. Estimates made of the impact of such changes are kept regularly under review.

Prisons

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what provision is made by the Prison Service to ensure that prisons are able to fulfil their statutory duty to provide frequent and reasonable access to legal texts;
	(2)  how many prison libraries stock legal texts and statutes as stipulated in Prison Service Order 6710.

Paul Goggins: All prison libraries are required by their service level agreement to stock the texts stipulated in the libraries Prison Service Order. The Prison Service ensures that libraries comply with this requirement through the Standards Audit and through the annual review of the library service level agreement.
	All prison Governors must ensure that libraries obtain the stipulated publications using the capitation grant provided for this purpose.

Prisons

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many prisoners awaiting trial are being held more than (a) 50 and (b) 100 miles from their committal court town;
	(2)  how many prisoners awaiting trial were sharing cells with convicted prisoners in the last month for which figures are available.

Paul Goggins: An individual prisoner's court details are recorded to show first court appearance, committal, remand, conviction or sentencing. Information specifically on committal court details could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	On 31 August 2003, the latest date for which information is available, details were available for 7,473 prisoners, 94 per cent. of the total prison population awaiting trial. This information is shown in the following table. The number of prisoners awaiting trial who share a cell with convicted prisoners is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Prison Service rules and policy state that prisoners awaiting trial should not be required to share a cell with a convicted prisoner. Where it becomes necessary for an unconvicted prisoner to share with a convicted prisoner due to population pressures, they should only do so if they have given their consent.
	Every effort is made to ensure that appropriate prisoners are located together and any such decision is made on the basis of staff judgment and experience. Steps are taken to ensure that prisoners are held safely. A full cell-sharing risk assessment procedure is carried out before prisoners are considered suitable to share a cell.
	
		Distance from court town
		
			 Prisoners awaiting trial Number of prisoners As a percentage of the total(23) 
		
		
			 Held over 100 miles away from their court committal town 96 1 
			 Held 50–100 miles away from their court committal town 556 7 
			 Held fewer than 50 miles away from their court committal town 6,821 86 
			 Information unavailable 507 6 
			 Total number of prisoners awaiting trial 7,980 100 
		
	
	(23) Based on total number of prisoners awaiting trial

Prisons

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans for the management of prison gardens.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 30 October 2003
	There are no plans to change the existing arrangements for the management of prison gardens.

Rap Music

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of a link between violent lyrics in rap music and gun crime.

Caroline Flint: Although there has been considerable discussion about the relationship between gun crime and rap music, the Government recognises that there are many factors that can influence the incidence of gun crime. The glamorisation of violence and gun culture in music or other media aimed at young people is unacceptable, but we recognise that music can play an important part in young people's lives and be used to promote and reinforce positive images.

Reoffending

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the impact of overcrowding on the ability of an individual to participate in reoffending reduction courses.

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service keeps the impact of population pressures under review. The main threat to offending behaviour programmes stems from prisoners being transferred to another prison before completing a programme, in order to alleviate population pressures. So far this has been largely avoided. Only 1.5 per cent. of prisoners who started a cognitive skills offending behaviour programme in 2002–03 failed to complete the programme as a result of transfer (which may have been due to overcrowding or for other reasons). This is similar to the previous three years and compares with 4.8 per cent. in 1996–97.

Thames Valley Police

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's targets are for the police officers per thousand ratio; what the Thames Valley Police Force's target ratio is; and to what extent his Department expects any imbalance will be addressed by the time of the 2004–05 grant allocation to Thames Valley.

Hazel Blears: Thames Valley Police had record police strength of 3,965 on 31 August, which is 270 more than in March 1997. In addition the force had 2,412 police (support) staff, which is 587 more than in March 1997.
	No target for ratio of police officers to 1,000 population is set. Decisions on the balance between police officers and police (support) staff is a matter for the Chief Officers of Police and will have an impact on the ratio of police officers to population in forces.

Tuberculosis (Prisons)

Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many tuberculosis cases there are among the prison population; what measures are being taken to (a) identify and (b) isolate TB cases early; and what other measures are being taken to prevent transmission between inmates.

Paul Goggins: The Prison Service does not routinely collect information from establishments about the number of cases of tuberculosis among prisoners in England and Wales. It has, however, contracted the Health Protection Agency to provide a communicable disease data collection and monitoring service. As part of this contract, the London prisons will shortly begin to pilot use of a new reporting form, which will provide information on newly diagnosed cases of tuberculosis and also on people already being treated for tuberculosis when received into prison.
	The Health Protection Agency also issues a Quarterly Report on Infectious Diseases in Prisons. The two most recent editions have included detailed guidance about the control of tuberculosis in prisons designed to clarify and reinforce earlier guidance to establishments. This makes it clear that all prisoners should be screened for tuberculosis on first reception by direct questioning about the particular symptoms of the disease. Where any case of tuberculosis is suspected, immediate efforts should be made to confirm the diagnosis or to make an urgent referral to the local NHS chest physician. Any prisoners with symptoms of the disease should be isolated until a diagnosis is made. The recent guidance also includes advice on notification under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and associated contact tracing.

West Yorkshire Police Authority

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on police officer manning levels in the West Yorkshire Police Authority area.

Hazel Blears: Decisions on the balance between police officers and police (support) staff is a matter for the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police (Mr. Colin Cramphorn). At the end of August West Yorkshire Police had 5,169 police officers. This is 140 more than in March 2003 and 280 more than in March 2002. I understand that the force has forecast strength for 31 March 2004 at 5,286 officers. In March 2003 the force had 2,538 police (support) staff, which is 174 more than in March 2002.
	Additionally, West Yorkshire Police had 96 Community Support Officers on 31 August, with plans to have 160 by March 2004.